



The thing with almost any gadget is that each new generation has to bring something new to the table to compel people to buy it. A spec bump is the simplest solution for almost any product. It allows adding new features to the device, giving it more functionality and allowing to do something previously impossible. But what about a device which had only a single purpose from the start and that's what made it stand out? It does only one thing, but it does it flawlessly. So does this device need more complexity? Would people actually be buying it after it has deviated from its original purpose? That's the case of the e-readers, mainly the Kindle product line by Amazon.



What's up with the e-readers?

I have a confession to make. I own a 5th generation Kindle (released in 2012) and it has never crossed my mind to go for an upgrade. A premium Paperwhite, an ultra-premium Oasis, or the next-gen budget-friendly Kindle with no fancy codename. I simply see no reason to upgrade. And I'm not the only one around. According to different reports, the e-reader sales were at its prime in 2012 with approximately 40 million units sold worldwide. The same year my 5th Gen Kindle was released. Since then, the sales were only dropping. No, not the drastic downfall of the industry, in 2015 it was about a half of its best year. So what's the matter with this?



We can see a similar tendency on the desktop PCs market. But while the PC decline can be explained by a variety of 2-in-1's, tablets, and smartphones which are slowly replacing the computers, there is a little alternative to the e-readers. They were a niche product from the start and basically remain a single-purpose device today. Yes, some might argue that there's no need to buy an e-reader today because you can read a book on a smartphone, but the same could have been said 5 years ago, which didn't prevent an e-reader from taking a spot on your nightstand or in a bag. Which brings us back to the starting point of this discussion, mainly the 5th Gen Kindle.



Do you need a jack of all trades?

This is probably the favorite gadget I own. Can it replace a PC, smartphone, tablet, or, at least, an MP3 player? Not a chance! But which one of those is the best suited for comfortable reading? It's not fair to say that with a Kindle one can only read books, as some models have an audio jack for audiobooks and there are adapters for the text-to-speech capabilities, a very basic web browser, and even some games. But all those things aren't the main purpose of a Kindle, not something you've actually bought it for.



In the today's world of multitasking and devices with seeming endless capabilities, Kindle lives in its small world of doing only one thing and doing it great. You can read books on a tablet, but there are so many "buts" about this. It's difficult to concentrate and immerse yourself into an exciting narration when the Internet, social media, emails and messaging apps are just one tap away and their constant notifications bombard you every three minutes. This is where distraction and procrastination are born and nurtured, so your determination must be adamant if you want to finish a book, let alone to crawl through a boring prolog. You might be using some browser extensions or apps to limit your distractions of a PC, while Kindles basically have this feature baked in. They were just not designed for anything other than reading and that what makes them good for this task.



What's so special about the 5th?

I won't say that the 5th Gen Kindle is the best Kindle ever, but I believe that a lot us who have spent hundreds of hours reading from it might feel so. First of all, 5th Kindle (and, probably, the 4th one as they are were similar) became a gateway for many into the world of Kindles or even e-books as a whole. Even up until today it remains the most affordable model in the lineage, with a price tag of $69 (for the Special Offer version with the least annoying ad model I've ever seen). After a $139 3rd Gen Kindle, a $79 Kindle 4 and a $69 Kindle 5 were an almost instant buy for those who were looking towards at least trying out a dedicated e-book reader.



And this is what makes the 5th Gen Kindle special - a balance. This model is an MVP for the lowest price. Certainly, those who wanted more (a higher resolution, a backlit or a touch screen) were welcome to upgrade, but people who instinctively felt and adopted the concept of a "one-purpose device" are mostly satisfied with what their Kindle can do. This, eventually, might have been what drew Amazon towards creating a premium line of Kindles or a tablet-like Kindle Fire series - to provide their clients with something more than a simple reader. But a demand for this is certainly lower when compared to a device which (at that time) was able to satisfy the whole market of e-book fans and not cater toward a certain segment of it.



The simplicity is the key here. Boasting the most robust book library, Kindle doesn't shy away from allowing you to add your own files to it. This is another aspect of the Kindle ecosystem which I adore. Sending your personal files, document and (don't kid anyone) pirated books is dead simple with Kindle. You aren't required to install a dedicated software to manage your books library, nor you even have to use a USB cord. "Send to Kindle" is, probably, the most elegant and effective solution to such tasks. It's a very simple plug-in which adds a "Send to Kindle" entry to the context (right-click) menu. Two clicks and the file you need gets sent to your reader. All you need to do next is to turn on Wi-Fi on Kindle and the file will be automatically downloaded. This is a one-purpose app for a one-purpose gadget, just as it should have been.



Forced upgrades?

Longevity is yet another strong side of Kindles. It's almost five years and my Kindle still works great and holds a charge for around 3 weeks. A lot of people buy a new smartphone almost every year, because of how steadily their favorite product line receives specs bumps, new software becomes incompatible with an old OS/firmware, the battery tends to die out faster and faster while there are always talks about the planned obsolescence of the devices . Almost all of this is inexistent on the simple Kindles. With good durability, no necessity to update software and a great battery life, there's almost no reason to buy a new Kindle each year. I wonder if Amazon higher-ups occasionally regret their decision of releasing Kindle 5 as it was. Probably not, actually. Certainly, they might be regretting the steady decline in the e-reader units sales, but, as Amazon doesn't give exact numbers, considering the higher price of the following generations and a broader line-up of devices, even with the lower sales number the profit might actually be the same or even higher as in 2012. But this is just the tip of an iceberg.

A Kindle of today, just like a Kindle of 2012 for Amazon, is, first of all, a gateway into its vast ecosystem of books and media content, and only then a device solely for reading. Amazon has provided us with a platform first, and a gadget second, much like Google or Apple did, and something Windows Phone still struggles to achieve . The thing is, if you've provided your users with a 5-years old device which still works, they are still able to purchase and consume content on it. Is it the most economically fit solution for Amazon? This is difficult to answer. But is it the most user-friendly solution for us? This is difficult to argue.