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The Kindle Index

priceonomics.com

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Re: The Kindle Index

#51

Post by andrewpi »

tomkarlo wrote: post #33

Unless I'm totally mis-understanding their data gathering, this post seems completely wrongheaded (or at the least, willfully ignorant and self-serving.) They're indexing the popularity of e-readers in different MSAs by looking at how many are for sale on secondary markets, as a % of what's for sale on the secondary markets in that city. This seems like a really poor proxy for how popular e-readers are in those locat…

I agree with you. In addition, compared to the price of living in a city like New York or LA, a Kindle is quite cheap and almost disposable. It makes sense to me that less New Yorkers would be trying to sell their old Kindles.

Re: The Kindle Index

#52

Post by binarysolo »

tomkarlo wrote: post #33

Unless I'm totally mis-understanding their data gathering, this post seems completely wrongheaded (or at the least, willfully ignorant and self-serving.) They're indexing the popularity of e-readers in different MSAs by looking at how many are for sale on secondary markets, as a % of what's for sale on the secondary markets in that city. This seems like a really poor proxy for how popular e-readers are in those locat…

Agreed -- correlating the amount of Kindles resold on Craigslist to a population's "e-literacy" seems tenuous at best. There's a buncha variables in play when you're considering the types of people who 1) are on the Internet, 2) are using Craigslist to resell, and 3) have Kindles to resell.

If anything, I'd observe from the data that college towns resell their Kindles a lot more because the students are receptive to new/hip tech, collect their data point, and plenty of them move on by reselling via Craigslist, which extracts more value over eBay/Amazon, with some opportunity cost of time (to fulfill the order by meeting in person and what not).

Re: The Kindle Index

#53

Post by davidw »

so_says wrote: post #13

I can't help but wonder if the prevalence of Kindles in a particular city relates to the number of brick and mortar bookstores in that city. I am imagining that the more "cosmopolitan" cities probably have more physical bookstores.

Right. If I still lived in Portland, Oregon, or even Eugene, I'd probably spend lots of time at Powell's or Smith Family and load up on real books. As it is, the selection of English language books here in Padova is fairly limited, and the other option, ordering from Amazon.co.uk is kind of slow too (despite reading, writing and speaking the language fluently, I don't enjoy reading in Italian as much as English for whatever reason, especially when the original is in English).

In that light, a device that lets me read books instantly is something of a minor miracle, and one of the best gadgets I have ever purchased.

Re: The Kindle Index

#54

Post by pragmatic »

Would be better with some more data.

Ex: Overall literacy rates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States

"In 2011, the National Institute for Literacy estimated that 47 percent of adults in Detroit, Michigan are "functionally illiterate," meaning they have trouble with reading, speaking, writing and computational skills."

So Detroit is not likely to be a hotspot for ereader sales.

Also data from Amazon: (books, magazines and newspapers purchased per capita)

1. Cambridge, Mass.

2. Alexandria, Va.

3. Berkeley, Calif.

4. Ann Arbor, Mich.

5. Boulder, Colo.

6. Miami

7. Salt Lake City

8. Gainesville, Fla.

9. Seattle

10. Arlington, Va.

11. Knoxville, Tenn.

12. Orlando, Fla.

13. Pittsburgh

14. Washington, D.C.

15. Bellevue, Wash.

16. Columbia, S.C.

17. St. Louis, Mo.

18. Cincinnati

19. Portland, Ore.

20. Atlanta

source: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=iro...

Re: The Kindle Index

#55

Post by bambax »

tomkarlo wrote: post #33

Unless I'm totally mis-understanding their data gathering, this post seems completely wrongheaded (or at the least, willfully ignorant and self-serving.) They're indexing the popularity of e-readers in different MSAs by looking at how many are for sale on secondary markets, as a % of what's for sale on the secondary markets in that city. This seems like a really poor proxy for how popular e-readers are in those locat…

Absolutely!

The Kindle is a wonderful device that is already very good and doesn't improve enough to justify upgrading all the time like Apple devices. And it's very cheap, which makes selling old ones not very appealing.

I own a Kindle 3 (with a keyboard) and couldn't live without it. Even if I eventually buy a newer one I will keep that one to leave at home for example, or give to my kids. But sell it? Never.

This post is quite disappointing, as are most from Priceonomics. They are apparently trying to mimic the blogging strategy of OKCupid, but they're doing it very poorly.

Re: The Kindle Index

#56

Post by bambax »

grandalf wrote: post #34

I'd be curious to see the data if iPads were consider e-Readers. Then also to see it if iPhones were also added. I own a kindle, but rarely use it b/c between my iPad and iPhone (with the respective kindle apps and other e-Reader apps) there is rarely a reason to carry along the Kindle. One exception might be if I were going on a long trek in the wildnerness where the extra battery life of e-ink and the kindle offere…

I don't understand that. You can't use an iPad to read where there is lots of light, so how do you not find the Kindle much more useful? Anywhere where there's sunlight the Kindle has no substitute...

Re: The Kindle Index

#57

Post by achompas »

tomkarlo wrote: post #33

Unless I'm totally mis-understanding their data gathering, this post seems completely wrongheaded (or at the least, willfully ignorant and self-serving.) They're indexing the popularity of e-readers in different MSAs by looking at how many are for sale on secondary markets, as a % of what's for sale on the secondary markets in that city. This seems like a really poor proxy for how popular e-readers are in those locat…

While working as a former economic researcher, my then-boss had a litmus test for analyzing studies: he would always try to identify an alternative explanation for any qualitative assertions made by the study. See midas's comment below for a great example of this. [0]

In economics -- hell, in any empirical field -- it's absurdly hard to draw qualitative conclusions. If you see these often, like in Priceonomics's blog posts, then you should have doubts.

I get Priceonomics is a YC company so we should cheer for them or something, but they're quickly picking up a reputation for making qualitative jumps using elementary work. You don't want to be in that position when you're in the business of analyzing data.

[0] http://news.ycombinator.org/item?id=3859136

Re: The Kindle Index

#58

Post by grandalf »

bambax wrote: post #56
grandalf wrote: post #34

I'd be curious to see the data if iPads were consider e-Readers. Then also to see it if iPhones were also added. I own a kindle, but rarely use it b/c between my iPad and iPhone (with the respective kindle apps and other e-Reader apps) there is rarely a reason to carry along the Kindle. One exception might be if I were going on a long trek in the wildnerness where the extra battery life of e-ink and the kindle offere…

I don't understand that. You can't use an iPad to read where there is lots of light, so how do you not find the Kindle much more useful? Anywhere where there's sunlight the Kindle has no substitute...

I rarely read outdoors, I guess. In any indoor lighting environment I've tried, the iPad works well.

I will probably buy a new kindle one of these days to try out the latest. My current one is the first generation device which is a bit less ergonomic.

Re: The Kindle Index

#59

Post by grandalf »

tomkarlo wrote: post #33

Unless I'm totally mis-understanding their data gathering, this post seems completely wrongheaded (or at the least, willfully ignorant and self-serving.) They're indexing the popularity of e-readers in different MSAs by looking at how many are for sale on secondary markets, as a % of what's for sale on the secondary markets in that city. This seems like a really poor proxy for how popular e-readers are in those locat…

This is the first of their posts that seems like BS intended to go viral. Previous ones have been fairly interesting even if a few basic economic principles have been willfully avoided to make them more juicy.

Re: The Kindle Index

#60

Post by alexharrower »

tomkarlo wrote: post #33

Unless I'm totally mis-understanding their data gathering, this post seems completely wrongheaded (or at the least, willfully ignorant and self-serving.) They're indexing the popularity of e-readers in different MSAs by looking at how many are for sale on secondary markets, as a % of what's for sale on the secondary markets in that city. This seems like a really poor proxy for how popular e-readers are in those locat…

You must live in fresno :(
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