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Amazon Relies on Customers to Pimp the Kindle

News from Portfolio.com Also on Portfolio Singapore Fund Flies on Through Economic Maelstrom Not for Sale: Massive Media Conglomerate Partying With the Dems on Hot Denver Nights Subscribe to Portfolio magazine Mike Pfeffer, a 26-year-old IT professional, was thinking about buying a Kindle, Amazon's pricey new digital book reader, but he wanted to look at the screen and touch the buttons before shelling out $359 for it. So he went to the Amazon site and, through the See a Kindle in Your City message board, found a current Kindle owner in Manhattan who was willing to meet up. The woman worked in the building across the street from him and enthusiastically showed him everything from how the screen looked to how to turn pages on the device. "I told her she should go work for Amazon," says Pfeffer, who wound up buying a Kindle the very next day. To help sell its high-priced digital reading device, Amazon is relying more than ever on its tried-and-true sales strategies of word of mouth and customer reviews, and it appears to be working, although the total market for the device is questionable. In August, Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney projected that Amazon would sell 380,000 Kindles this year, up from an earlier estimate of 190,000, adding in a report that "Kindle is becoming the iPod of the book world" since its release in November 2007. (However, Mahaney's estimate that about 240,000 Kindles have been sold so far this year was, by his own admission, based on fuzzy numbers since Amazon hasn't released any sales numbers for the Kindle, and Amazon has reportedly sought to distance itself from those numbers.) Another analyst, Tim Bueneman from McAdams Wright Ragen, reported last week that several new versions of the device are in development, including a textbook model. Amazon says its approach to selling the Kindle?no outside advertising and just relying on the Kindle community and stumping by Jeff Bezos to drive sales?is deliberate. The Kindle currently has over 4,200 customer reviews on the Amazon website, more than for any other top-selling item in Amazon's electronics category, and the vast majority are positive. "Customer reviews of Kindle have been terrific?that tends to help sell the product," says Ian Freed, the Amazon executive in charge of the Kindle. More than three quarters of the reviewers give the Kindle at least four stars out of five, with many using words like fabulous, must-have, and changed my life. The See a Kindle in Your City program, which was started in May, is just another extension of that idea. Freed and members of his group saw that people were especially curious when they saw one in public and decided to capitalize on the phenomenon. "We tapped right into that, allowing customers to create a space where potential customers could physically meet, like at a coffee shop or a restaurant, and show each other Kindles," says Freed. Since the Kindle is an expensive new technology, selling the device at retail outlets where customers could see and touch it would seem to make sense, but Freed says that would diminish the community-based marketing that's propelling sales. But there may be another reason for See a Kindle in Your City?it could be that stores just don't want to carry the device. "Kindle is actually a tough product to sell at retail," says Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile strategy at Jupitermedia. Sony's e-book reader, a similar product, may have set the tone. It was released earlier than the Kindle in September 2006 and uses the same E Ink technology for its screen?and doesn't seem to have sold particularly well as a retail product at either Sony's own stores or at Borders, although Sony, like Amazon, has not released any kind of sales figures for its device. "It's going to take a fair amount of evangelizing to explain the product, and the best people to evangelize are the users of the products," says Gartenberg of the Kindle. Among the features that Kindle users have been most enthusiastic about is the wireless-downloading feature that differentiates it from Sony's reader, which requires a computer to first receive the books. Digital books can be delivered almost anywhere to users in less than a minute using Sprint's nationwide high-speed wireless network, fulfilling users' desires for instant gratification. Indeed, instead of cannibalizing sales of physical books, Freed says Amazon's statistics show that Kindle owners more than doubled their overall number of book purchases after getting the device, and that they still bought just as many physical books after getting one as they had before. Those avid Kindle users have become effective proselytizers, often talking up the device with the zeal of religious converts. Citigroup's Mahaney raves about the ease of taking e-books with him when he travels, and one journalist (who wished to remain anonymous) says that he was initially skeptical about the whole notion of e-books and only got a review copy of it to trash it. "But I love it," he says. "I couldn't find anything bad about it. I use it all the time." Though the idea of Kindle get-togethers may sound suspiciously like Tupperware parties, Gartenberg thinks Amazon's strategy is different. "There's a difference between selling and evangelizing," he explains. "Amazon is not asking its customers to sell, it's asking its fans to sell. And they're not making any commission on those sales." To be sure, Amazon's call to Kindle fans to push the product has had its detractors. "What an outrageous request from Amazon!" one respondent wrote when Amazon introduced its See a Kindle in Your City message forum. "Take your time, go out in public with your Kindle, and help us sell more Kindles and make more money. I appreciate the offer to become an unpaid pimp for the Kindle, but no thanks, Amazon."

Singapore wealth fund doubles profits

Profits at Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek double after asset sales offset the impact of the credit crunch.

Are Australian Travel Junkies Destroying the Planet?

If you live on an isolated island and want to see the world, you're going to need to fly to get there. No one knows this better than Australians, who are considered some of the most well-traveled people on the planet. But there's one Australian who says her fellow citizens must squash their travel bug for the sake of the environment.  Adele Horin, writing in The Sydney Morning Herald, says her countrymen (and women) are addicted to travel and that all the thermostat adjusting in the world won't mean anything if they continue hopping flights to visit family, attend conferences and explore the world. It's a assessment that's not likely to be well received. For decades, travel has been a major part of life in Oz. After college, young Aussies take a year off to wait tables in London or backpack through South America. Stop at any youth hostel in Europe and you're bound to find at least one person from Down Under. Retirees flush with retirement cash hop a plane to visit the children and grandchildren spread out around the world. Executives and entrepreneurs travel frequently to stay connected in an interconnected global economy. No wonder some of the best guidebooks in the world -- the Lonely Planet series -- are cranked out in Melbourne. Horin says it all has to stop. Every time an Australian boards one of those big Qantas 747s (she calls them "toxic flying machines"), she argues, they're doing enormous damage to the environment. She estimates that a round trip from Sydney to London emits the equivalent of nine tons of CO2 per passengers, twice as much as each person on the planet generates annually through eating, driving, and heating or cooling their homes. Yikes. But does she, or anyone else, have the right to lecture Australians about their travel habits? It's not that easy, Adele. First off, Australia is not only an island, it's an island in the middle of nowhere. London is 10,000 miles away from Sydney. Tokyo and Shanghai are 5,000 miles away. Singapore, an important financial hub for Australia, is 4,000 miles away. And the country is not exactly a Martha's Vineyard-size island -- a coast to coast drive, much of it through the desert, takes days. All that air travel accounts for just 1 percent of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions. Compare that to 1.5 percent worldwide and 3.5 percent in the U.S. and you wonder if Aussies are doing that much damage. And flying is still less polluting, overall, than driving - 10 percent of Australia's GHG emissions come from cars; that figure is 14 percent worldwide. Australians are some of the most environmentally conscious people I've met (not surprising, considering that the Great Barrier Reef is dying and part of the country is suffering through a massive drought), but Horin suggests their propensity for travel make them hypocrites. In much of the world, cities, forests, beaches and mountains can be reached by train or car. Is it fair to punish Australians because they don't have this luxury? Yes, emissions are a huge concern, and if travel-junkie Australians are contributing disproportionately, then this needs to be taken into account. But is it fair to ask residents of an isolated island nation to suck it up while the rest of us travel freely? Post updated 11:30 a.m. PDT. Photo by Qantas.

It's Car Vs. Rickshaw on the Mean Streets of Delhi

City officials in Delhi are sparring with activists and transportation policy wonks over a ubiquitous site on the streets of India -- cycle rickshaws. The city banned the three-wheelers from many areas three years ago, and though the ban was recently overturned, everyone says the fight is far from over. Bureaucrats can tick off a long list of reasons for banning rickshaws. They're annoying and dangerous. They impede traffic, clog roads, cause pile-ups and occasionally nail pedestrians. City officials say there are 300,000 to 400,000 rickshaws on the streets of Delhi -- triple what is allowed -- and because they're considered an "ethnic mode of transportation" they can't be cited for violating traffic laws, which they do all the time. Officials also play the organized crime card, saying the rickshaw business is run by a shadowy rickshaw mafia that preys on the poor. Rickshaw mafia? Activists in India and beyond are fighting back hard. To give rickshaw drivers a voice, the  Institute for Transportation and Development Policy convened the Rickshaw Advocacy Group. the lobbying and support network offers several good reasons why banning rickshaws is a bad idea.  First off, yanking rickshaws off the street could throw tens of thousands of residents out of work -- many of them migrants with few possibilities for alternate employment. The Institute also points out something that should be painfully obvious: rickshaws work. They carry 100,000 people through Delhi each day, and they do it cheaply, quietly and with zero pollution. Thanks to the Institute, the rickshaw debate now includes phrases like global warming and clean transport. As it should be. In a country with so explosive an economy as India, anything that increases mobility while minimizing pollution should be embraced, not banned. But then, it might be India's economic ascendancy that is at least partially motivating the ban. India wants to be seen as a vibrant, modern country, and there may be concern that rickshaw-clogged streets paint the wrong picture. If that is the case, someone should remind Delhi's leaders there are rickshaws rolling down the streets of Paris, London, and Singapore. Thanks to the Institute's efforts, India's Supreme Court recently tossed out Delhi's ban, but no one thinks the city is ready to give up the fight. Should the city get its way, it might not matter anyway. One rickshaw driver told a newspaper in India that when the last ban was in place, he and his fellow drivers simply ignored it. Photo by Flickr user Yodod.

Singapore warns bloggers against political postings

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Political debate on the Internet could fuel "dangerous discourse" in Singapore, the government said on Monday, warning people who post political commentary on Web sites could face prosecution. Speaking in parliament, senior minister of state Balaji Sadasivan, said anyone using the Internet to "persistently propagate, promote or circulate political issues" about Singapore

Top 10 Wired.com City Photos, Decided by Us

: Though Wired.com readers selected 10 excellent photos in our city photo contest, we here at the photo department like to fight for the underdog. Here are our 10 favorite submissions that we think deserved more attention. Our next twice-monthly photo contest is parties. We want you to prove that Wired.com readers know how to throw down on the dance floor. Check out the contest page for more information. Left: In The Medina -- Tunis Submitted by quejaytee Photographer's comment: "In the Medina during Ramadan 2007.? : Southbound Red Line, Chicago Submitted by Piper Kruse Photographer's comment: "I almost forgot to take the picture." : Bangkok Trains Run Late Submitted by Iggy Photographer's comment: "Bangkok train station." : Bern from the Munster Submitted by T Tourangeau Photographer's comment: "A Photograph of Bern, Switzerland from the top of the Munster Cathedral." : The Singapore Flyer Submitted by Joan Leong Photographer's comment: "The view of Singapore City from The Singapore Flyer, on the night the latter opened." : Bike Parking at the Train Station, Haarlem, Amsterdam Submitted by Eduardo Alomar Photographer's comment: "I spent some time in the Netherlands, mostly on a bike, the station in Amsterdam is even more packed." : Worries Left Behind Submitted by getinet Photographer's comment: "this is my city. this is my san francisco" : Walking back home Submitted by Sarasara Photographer's comment: "Took this one a while ago but I still love it. Still shows the craziness that is Tokyo." : Vienna Submitted by quejaytee Photographer's comment: None : China Town off the Manhattan Bridge Submitted by Andrew Photographer's comment: "China Town taken off the Manhattan bridge during a blizzard."

EarthTalk: Do city ?congestion taxes' really help the environment?

Singapore, Stockholm, and London tinker with variable toll pricing. New York wants to join the club. But does it work?

Animatronic waterboarding exhibit at Coney Island

Artist Steve Powers has created a Guantanamo Bay waterboarding exhibition at Coney Island -- for a buck, you can watch an animatronic torture reenactment. This is the most intriguing use of animatronics I've heard of since I got to see the animatronic reenactment of the castration of the eunuch admiral Zhèng Hé at the 1421 exhibit in Singapore. If you climb up a few cinderblock steps to the small window, you can look through the bars at a scene meant to invoke a Guantánamo Bay interrogation. A lifesize figure in a dark sweatshirt, the hood drawn low over his face, leans over another figure in an orange jumpsuit, his face covered by a towel and his body strapped down on a tilted surface. Feed a dollar into a slot, the lights go on, and Black Hood pours water up Orange Jumpsuit?s nose and mouth while Orange Jumpsuit convulses against his restraints for 15 seconds. O.K., kids, who wants more cotton candy! In interrupting a day at the beach with scenes of the United States government?s rougher practices, Mr. Powers is being deliberately provocative. ?What?s more obscene,? he asks, ?the official position that waterboarding is not torture, or our official position that it?s a thrill ride?? Link (Thanks to Mark and everyone else who suggested this!) (Image: Michael Nagle for The New York Times)...

A Balance of Power Shifts As Airbus Delivers Another A380

Dubai-based Emirates had a delegation at the Airbus delivery center in Hamburg today to pick up their first A380, and as the picture shows, it's a beauty. But this delivery is more than just a splashy media event and a new set of new photos for airline geeks to drool over. It highlights a seismic shift in the balance of power within the airline industry. Singapore Airlines got the first two A380s, which it outfitted with enclosed luxury suites and flies on its high-volume Singapore-London and Singapore-Sydney routes. Delivery to a second airline is a milestone for both Airbus and Emirates. Emirates will deploy the first of its 60 A380s on its Dubai to JFK route and is using the 489-seater to pull out all the stops for its first class passengers. In addition to sleeping suites and a bar, the airline offers in-flight showers, which seems to contradict Emirate's promise to save fuel by cutting the weight of its planes. But that's just more evidence of how the airline industry is changing. While U.S. carriers struggle through some of the toughest times they've faced and beg Uncle Sam for help, Middle East carriers - some owned by governments drunk on oil money - are expanding like mad. Take a look at a couple of airline order books and this becomes clear. Emirates has a staggering 60 A380s on order, each with a base price of $320 million. Each will carry 489 passengers, which means nearly 30,000 new seats - and that doesn't even take into account the 130 plus other planes Emirates has on order, most of them widebodies. By way of comparison, American Airlines, the world's largest carrier, has 52 737-800 narrowbodies on order. Delta is waiting on 46 new planes. According to the Wall Street Journal, United Airlines has no planes on order at all, a fact that it sometimes seems weirdly proud of. It's tough to compete with airlines that are being at least partially government subsidized, and that is what the U.S. industry finds itself dealing with. Some experts say Emirates will be the world's largest airline within 15 years. They may be right. Photo by Emirates.

International iPhone 3G Launches: India, Singapore, Estonia, Romania, More...

During their Q3 2008 financial results conference call, Apple announced that they would be launching the iPhone 3G in 20 additional countries on August 22nd. Several carriers have started announcing their plans: - Singtel of Singapore ...