[Greg Banks]

I've been thinking that perhaps Amazon was truly convinced that the DX would be a niche market product that they didn't initially anticipate that so many of the previous Kindle owners would want it, at least not so early on. Just wondering if others thought the same.

 

[Kathy]

I think that they have underestimated their supply of all of the Kindles. K1 was sold out quickly in the beginning, then the shortage after the Oprah show and now with the DX. With the release of the 2 so close together they may have underestimated the publicity that they got. 

 

[Bren S.]

I am thinking the same thing Greg since they seem to really be struggling to keep the KDX in stock.

I have also noticed that the price of used K1's has come down quite a bit on amazon marketplace.

 

[Rasputina]

It's so funny here of all places, to see the term broad appeal used associated with the DX.  Where is that poll where over 80% said it was too big and weren't interested? I saw lots of negative posts about it at the time. I'm still interested in it for the same reasons I was originally, but I don't think it necessarily has broad appeal. I do think that a certain percentage of people are buying it because it's the newest one. I think it will serve it's niche market pretty well. But I don't think Amazon underestimated. Every kindle released has had wait times, and this ones has been the shortest I've seen to date. I remember checking Amazon for over a year when K1 came out and it was constantly on waitlist.

 

[LaraAmber]

I think they underestimated the number of niche markets.

1. Students
2. Programmers
3. University professors/staff (I know one guy getting one to review grant proposals)
4. Legal staff
5. Medical staff
6. Gamers (D&D, D20, etc)
7. People who are always going to use the largest font sizes.

Basically anyone who reads a great deal of fat documents, industry-related periodicals, or other huge piles of paper who can get PDF versions or Kindle versions instead.  Like I said, I know one person who wants it for grant proposals, I know a few medical people who would be highly interested if their field related periodicals start coming out in PDF/Kindle format.  My husband wants one for programming books and gaming stuff.  His youngest sister starts college in the fall, and we will be watching for textbook availability and prices.

I will always use a K2, but I will like the option of stealing my husband's DX once we order it. 

Lara Amber

 

[Greg Banks]

It's so funny here of all places, to see the term broad appeal used associated with the DX. Where is that poll where over 80% said it was too big and weren't interested? I saw lots of negative posts about it at the time. I'm still interested in it for the same reasons I was originally, but I don't think it necessarily has broad appeal. I do think that a certain percentage of people are buying it because it's the newest one. I think it will serve it's niche market pretty well. But I don't think Amazon underestimated. Every kindle released has had wait times, and this ones has been the shortest I've seen to date. I remember checking Amazon for over a year when K1 came out and it was constantly on waitlist.

Broad market or "broad-er market," my point is simply that despite the fact that the DX was touted as something for students and special larger screen needs would want, there are a whole lot of people here and on the Amazon boards with K1s and newly bought K2s that are buying the DX and are very happy with it. Not sure what you find so invalid about something that is so obvious if you spend more than two minutes reading posts in either forum, but that makes my question no less worthy of discussion.

If you do not agree, why did you bother posting in this thread?

 

[Bren S.]

I have seen the same thing.
People who already have 1 or both versions that were avail. prior to the KDX being released, being some of the people who seem most impressed by the KDX.
It seems it's "broad appeal" is surprising many, when it is realized that many more people outside of the original "niche" KDX was made for, are now loving their KDX for reading.In some cases over their already owned, previously well used K1's and K2's

 

[Annie]

I think it's quite popular with people who never had a Kindle before too. Especially those who are a bit younger in age too, such as business men and women, and college students. I mean, look at me! I wanted the KDX so badly. More than the K2.

 

[Greg Banks]

It's funny, Sugar. I think most people are liking the DX because of being able to get more words on the screen, and yet I saw a post on Amazon earlier from an ecstatic mother who said her daughter had started reading on the Kindle after never being into reading before. The girl says that making the font larger, and thus having fewer words on a "page" is what makes it so much more appealing to her. So there is plenty of room, and maybe even a real need, for multiple screen sizes.

 

[kevindorsey]

I think it's quite popular with people who

never had a Kindle before too. Especially those who are a bit younger in age too, such as business men and women.

I think its always a better strategy to underplan a little than to overplan. Plus, they might be correcting some early issues with the DX, so the next batch made is error-free.

 

[lynninva]

Earlier today, Amazon was showing that the current in-stock estimate for the DX is 4-6 weeks, I also wondered if the response was more than expected.  (I just checked & now it says in-stock on June 26 again.)

Another possibility:
Since their initial promise was that it would be available 'this summer', maybe they have been air-shipping in some units to be able fill initial demand, but the balance is coming by ocean freight.  I know our company will sometimes have a small portion of an order shipped via air to be in stock for new catalog offerings, but the large portion is shipped by cheaper (and slower) ocean freight.  And I think it takes almost 6 weeks to get the freight from the Far East in via sea.

The KDX that I ordered for my husband is supposed to ship tonight.  I am anxious for it to arrive.  I can't wait for my husband to get hooked.

 

[Rasputina]

Broad market or "broad-er market," my point is simply that despite the fact that the DX was touted as something for students and special larger screen needs would want, there are a whole lot of people here and on the Amazon boards with K1s and newly bought K2s that are buying the DX and are very happy with it. Not sure what you find so invalid about something that is so obvious if you spend more than two minutes reading posts in either forum, but that makes my question no less worthy of discussion.

If you do not agree, why did you bother posting in this thread?

I never said it wasn't worthy of discussion. I replied so clearly I am discussing it. As for why did I bother posting? The Title says "Did Amazon underestimate" if you only want people who agree with you to post you could have worded it, "Who else thinks Amazon under estimated". I was merely answering the question posed. We don't all have to agree. And I'm not against the DX, I am interested in purchasing one but I'm still discerning if I will. I don't think it's invalid at all, in fact if you look back on the poll thread I mentioned in my first post you'll see that I was very much supporting that it isn't just for students or whatever. But that doesn't change the fact that I don't think Amazon underestimated.

ETA that I don't think I was totally clear in my previous post. I think that Amazon is pretty savvy. I think they chose their marketing plan to broaden their customer base. Clearly that was why the made the DX and they focused on adding to their base in advertising. I think the ones that underestimated the DXs appeal was the public and users in general. That is what we are seeing. People that didn't think they'd like it actually do. But that was due to their own preconceived notions. We saw lots of examples of it on the other thread I mentioned. But that was about them, not Amazon.

 

[pleeho]

Since i got the KDX, it has not left my side - I take it w/me everywhere. I've read 4 books over the past 10 days. It is such a pleasure to read and props up so well with the M-Edge platform cover that I'm reading while eating etc. I find I'm looking up things on wikipedia & google all the time also on it.

 

[L.Canton]

I think that perhaps they underestimated the demand to some degree, or it's simply taking them a bit of time to produce the numbers required to meet demand. The large screen and pdf features really are very useful, and I can see demand continuing to increase.

 

[Ann in Arlington]

Estimates are hard. . .even when you use fancy equations and statistical analysis methods to come up with something.  And usually what results is a range of figures:  if everything goes perfectly we'll sell "y" but if all the bad stuff we can think of happens it'll only be "x".  Then the decision maker just has to go with his gut as to what to tell the distributor because you can't say, "Please send us at least X but not more than y units."  To avoid any risk of having to store them, the decision maker probably went with a number closer to x than y.  This makes sense if you have a high degree of confidence that you can get more whenever you need them fairly quickly.

 

[Rasputina]

That is true about estimates. I also think a lot of companies purposely under release to create that sense of scarcity of a product and increase demand. I know that Nintendo has been regularly accused of that especially on release of the wii. 

 

[MarthaT]

I think they did, alot more demand than they could have expected it seems

 

[Greg Banks]

I never said it wasn't worthy of discussion. I replied so clearly I am discussing it. As for why did I bother posting? The Title says "Did Amazon underestimate" if you only want people who agree with you to post you could have worded it, "Who else thinks Amazon under estimated". I was merely answering the question posed. We don't all have to agree. And I'm not against the DX, I am interested in purchasing one but I'm still discerning if I will. I don't think it's invalid at all, in fact if you look back on the poll thread I mentioned in my first post you'll see that I was very much supporting that it isn't just for students or whatever. But that doesn't change the fact that I don't think Amazon underestimated.

ETA that I don't think I was totally clear in my previous post. I think that Amazon is pretty savvy. I think they chose their marketing plan to broaden their customer base. Clearly that was why the made the DX and they focused on adding to their base in advertising. I think the ones that underestimated the DXs appeal was the public and users in general. That is what we are seeing. People that didn't think they'd like it actually do. But that was due to their own preconceived notions. We saw lots of examples of it on the other thread I mentioned. But that was about them, not Amazon.

Sorry, Rasputina. I misunderstood you. I thought you were expressing frustration with the question itself. I certainly wasn't expecting everyone to agree here. In fact I wanted to know if others thought my own initial impression was correct.

 

[Rasputina]

No problem Greg, I should have been clearer in my first post.