Simple, Elegant Products: Part 4

For years, my business manager has told me that  I have a  $100 per week habit on Amazon.com. Books pile up at the office and at home.

Last week I found the solution: Amazon's Kindle. It is a light, simple electronic book that downloads books, magazines and newspapers over a wireless network. Book pricing is typically under $10.00 and the Sunday New York Times sells for $.75. The standard memory is huge and expandable.If you elect to delete a book, purchases can be retrieved anytime in the future.

The screen is unbelievably good and is easily readable in direct sunlight.

But, how to can you justify a $359.99 electronic book?

Josh Quittner's article in the current Time Magazine  explains. "With Amazon charging $9.99 a title, often a third the price of a new hardcover, the $359 Kindle pays for itself after you buy about 25 books."

Plus, that is 25 books that you do not have to store, sell or give away.

Kindle is a great product and the sales of digital books will, no doubt, continue to climb. Quittner reports that 12 percent of Amazon's book sales are Kindle-ized books.