As someone who has been following the dedicated ereader market for the past 16 years, it seems like Kindles, to some extent, have lost their shine over the past few years.
There has always been an anti-Amazon crowd, and there has always been plenty of Kindle detractors out there, but it just seems like Kindles are slowly becoming less appealing to the average consumer with each passing year.
Amazon is largely to blame for the decline of the Kindle brand. With all the things they’ve done to anger and alienate customers it isn’t surprising to see the Kindle’s reputation being tarnished and talked down on constantly on social media.
Amazon’s decision to remove the ability to download Kindle ebooks for USB transfer earlier this year was a major turning point, in part because there was a lot of misinformation and confusion about what that meant exactly. And things have gotten steadily worse since then.
The general view of Kindles online has shifted. They used to be regarded as a marvel with their long battery life and high contrast screens that are easily readable outside, with the ability to download books anywhere anytime. But now Kindles are largely viewed as the “uncool” brand because the perception is they’re too locked down and overly controlled by Amazon. Now anytime the topic of buying a Kindle comes up online, you see a bunch of comments from people saying not to buy a Kindle for a myriad of reasons, and most are exaggerated half-truths.
The talk of jailbreaking Kindles has increased dramatically. Now everybody thinks they have to jailbreak their Kindle in order to make it “useable” and people continue to push that narrative even though it isn’t necessarily true because they want to stick it to Amazon.
Amazon would be wise to make an effort to change the general perception of Kindles being too locked down and overly restricted. Even doing something as simple as adding native EPUB support would go a long way. Quit forcing people to use Send to Kindle to convert EPUBs to Kindle format if they don’t want to—what difference does it make. Another thing they could do is stop deleting sideloaded ebooks on Kindles. That would help the Kindle’s reputation a lot right there. Other brands aren’t participating in that kind of nonsense.
I bought the 2024 PaperWhite SE and I couldn’t be happier. It has the speed, ans screen size i really like. I have added extra fonts to help with my vision issues. No it doesn’t have page buttons and I wouldn’t use them if it did.
My only frustration is the now “lack of innovation” with Kindle e-readers. Amazon just keeps releasing essentially the same form of e-reader (not counting the color version, although the body form is the same). I really want a Kindle with buttons with an updated screen. I’d even be happy with the ability to scroll up and down. I don’t like having to tap on the screen.
My “travel” Kindle is the last generation Oasis and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. I eventually got over the fact that the buttons are only on one side. (I’d prefer to have buttons on both sides.)
Luckily for them, the competition continues to shoot itself in the foot by focusing on colour ereaders, at least in the 7 inch market
Unfortunately true. The competition, i.e. Kobo, really ought to get a new 7″ reader out there, and also an update to their 8″ reader.
Whether either will happen is unknown. It’s also unknown whether Kobo just plans to focus on color mostly going forward, or if the lack of new BW devices is more about the current tariff situation. It’s too bad, because Kobo has made some fine BW readers and not all of us want the compromises of color e-ink. And now would be an EXCELLENT time to collect a few disgruntled Amazon customers.
Very happy I picked up a second Sage recently!
“…or if the lack of new BW devices is more about the current tariff situation…
a) Kobo killed the Libra 2 long before the current tariff situation.
b) If they can produce BW devices in other sizes, why can’t they make a 7” reader?
Amazon has nothing to worry about, as the competition is awful.
That’s the main problem isn’t it? Amazon isn’t forced to innovate or create premium products because their direct competitors are not. If the market isn’t pushing them to do it, why bother?
My Paperwhite was 2-ish years old when its internal storage has failed. Now it’s a paperweight, only capable of displaying the tree screen of death.
Ima Kobo sheep now.
I think part of the biggest problem recently has been the lack of marketing. Also, the lack of availability in all markets. Like in Mexico, they still don’t offer the Scribe. their competition sells the Scribe and colorsoft models. I also don’t understand how they don’t allow audible on all markets. I had read that Amazon has been switching over to AI programing, where they use AI to write code for their devices as a way to cut down on human programmers. I wonder if this is why voiceview feature was messed up in recent updates. The noise that some people are making about the restrictions of copy protection, really is nothing new. It has always been there. Even the competition uses copy protection. As we become more digitally dependent, it seems people are now starting to understand the implication of digital media.
KOBO product top executives needs to be fired immediately. They seem to be content with the leftovers of Amazon customer base rather than offering kindle equivalent devices with open architecture and better specs.
Kobo has been super passive for a long time when it comes to their ereader business. I don’t get it. They don’t even have any reliable distribution in the US anymore. You pretty much have to order directly from their website now or pay ridiculous prices from 3rd party sellers, and there are a lot of recent complaints of shipping being really slow when ordering from them, and they have a long history of making returns and exchanges a real hassle. It would be nice if Amazon had some real competition that actually cared.
Maybe they are simply not interested in your market? In my country you can buy a Kobo in any store that sells consumer electronics. Mediamarkt, Coolblue, Fnac, Vanden Borre, you name it.
I ordered two Kobo devices recently directly from their website. I am in America. One came from their warehouse in Idaho and one from New Jersey. They do have a presence in America. Granted you can’t play with the device before buying it but I would rather buy directly from Kobo than say Walmart where you couldn’t find where the readers were displayed and received a blank look from the store employee you asked about it. I don’t blame Kobo for ending that partnership with Walmart. Buying directly from Kobo has never really been a problem for me and the one time I did have an issue their customer service was excellent in solving the problem. I consider Kobo a very good competitor to Amazon.
Well said, Susan, and I agree!
I think if anything Kobo is just going to go up. A lot of people left Kindle for Kobo and love it. I enjoy using my Kobo ereaders, their reading layout by default I enjoy, and how easy it is to customize your device with screensavers, fonts and even adding KoReader if you’d like.
I feel like adding NetGalley send to Kobo feature, is another step closer to having sync possibility, which I know some desire. (I would like this feature as well – but not a deal breaker)
Perhaps because there isn’t a lot of money to be made.
Somewhat like razors and blades.
Personally, I jailbroke my Kindle Oasis back in January when you published your blog about WinterBreak, and I haven’t looked back since! KOReader gives you SO many more options to customize the appearance of your ebooks, plus you can read native epub format without Amazon keeping a record of the books you send via “Send to Kindle.” Granted, you STILL have to use the default kindle software to read books purchased from Amazon (unless you convert them in calibre), but I’ve pretty much stopped buying kindle books unless there’s no other choice. Do you HAVE to jailbreak to make a kindle usable? No, but it works for me and my situation!
I have been a Kindle user since the one they made with speakers and buttons, and have been hooked since then. I’ve had various Kindles through the years and now usinig the scribe. I wanted to try a Kobo years ago when I purchased my Blackberry Playbook that came with the Kobo app.. I enjoyed the app alot, but could never bring myself to purchase the hardware because my Kindle library is so extensive.
Reading has always been a favorite pass time of mine so I just like to read, and the Kindle eco sytem is my go to. That coud change one day because it really doesn’t matter what i’m reading on, as long as I can read. All of these E readers have their own way of doing things so just pay attention to detail when purchasing, and do your research so you don’t end up regreting it later.