Jeff Bezos loves his Amazon Kindle

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos plugs the Amazon Kindle in a one-on-one interview with Fortune. Image: Russ Curtis

By Yi-Wyn Yen

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. – In a 20-minute interview with Fortune Brainstorm conference organizer David Kirkpatrick, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos spent about half his time gushing about the wonders of Kindle, an electronic reader.

Bezos went into a soliloquy on the benefits of reading a book on the digital reader over the old-fashioned way. The Amazon.com (AMZN) founder was asked a question by an audience member who wondered what the company will do when Google (GOOG) and Wikipedia create a database of digital books that can be printed out in five minutes through an ATM machine.

“I don’t know why anyone would wait five minutes for a book,” Bezos deadpanned. “Our vision for Kindle is we want to have every book in print or out of print, all available in less than 60 seconds. The medium time to download a book [on the Kindle] is 23 seconds.”

Bezos revealed very little insight into Amazon as he talked in general terms on other topics. He said he finds the Internet “awe-inspiring” and believes that “so many companies are doing so many interesting things,” but he would not discuss other companies due to a “long-standing policy.”

He also briefly discussed a strategy to send a “vertical-landing” rocket into space. “It’ll go up and come back and land on its tail like a Buck Rogers rocket,” Bezos said. Asked by Kirkpatrick when this project would happen, Bezos replied, “a number of years.”

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The guy that asked the google ATM question sounds like a Amazon shill to me

Posted By Jason Aurora, IL : July 22, 2008 10:40 am

Bezos is just shilling the Kindle, probably because it is not selling as well as he had expected. It is an OK idea, but not well executed(it’s like a Zune reader when it should be an iPod reader). The interface is poor(too much of the surface is dedicated to buttons, etc and not text), it is too big, and it is WAY too expensive. Make it $100, 1/4 inch thick, and have ~90% of the surface as readable text.

And in response to someones comment about the writing – those are quotes from the subject of the story, so you can’t hold the author responsible. Pay attention.

Posted By Jeff, Philadelphia, PA : July 22, 2008 9:59 am

It’s going backwards…printing a book at an ATM? Keep reems of paper and ink at an ATM-like machine? dumb… Would hate to be the nth person in line to print a book. You think you have problems with your office printer now..hahahaha. That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard from a technology company

Posted By Calvin, Seattle, WA : July 22, 2008 12:42 am

This article is not well written.

“… the medium time …”
should be
“… the median time …”

And “Our vision for the kindle…”
should be
“Our vision for the Kindle…”

Posted By barmish, seattle, wa : July 21, 2008 10:41 pm

What year is this guy living in? 1998, perhaps?

Posted By Jeff, New York, New York : July 21, 2008 9:41 pm

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