Happy birthday, Kindle

CNN points out it's already been a year since Amazon introduced the Kindle. It's currently sold out, and Oprah likes it, as do Toni Morrison and James Patterson (but not J.K. Rowling). It's accounting for 10% of Amazon's book sales, even though only 200,000 of Amazon's zillions of titles are available on it (evidently it's the right 200,000). So it's a game-changing hit, right?

Well, it's definitely not a flop, and the article claims that sales are "on a par with other high-profile mobile devices in their first year." On the other hand, in keeping with my not-so-disruptive technology theme, I'd have to side with Paul Reynolds of Consumer Reports:

I think it's certainly a ways away from hitting the mainstream ... because of the price and the experience a reader gets from long-form reading. Whether these ... are successful, stand-alone devices remains to be seen. From what I've seen and heard, I think the technology is here to stay.

So ... so far, so good, and it definitely bears watching, but more of a leadoff single than a grand slam home run.