ILMK Poll: 86% have used the web on their Kindles
In a recent post, I asked my readers about things besides reading that they did with their Kindles.
I was curious: Amazon gives us several non-reading capabilities, but people like to say that the Kindle isn’t a multi-function device like an iPad, but a “purpose-built device”.
I’ve had more than 120 responses.
What am I seeing so far?
The “least ignored” feature is the web access. I asked how often people had gone to non-Amazon websites on their Kindles…only 14% said they had never tried it. I think the better browser on the K3 may make this an even more used feature.
Only 45% had never played downloaded games on the Kindle. Presumably, this was mostly Every Word and Shuffled Row, the recently made available free word games. However, this could also be games purchased in the Kindle store.
Interestingly, only 50.8% have never checked e-mail on their Kindles. I’ve done that, but it’s clunky…I’m surpised it’s that high, actually. That doesn’t mean they use it…but 4.2% do say they check it “often”.
54% have never played Minesweeper or Gomoku on their Kindles. Actually, these are not selectable through the menus…they are sort of Easter Eggs in that sense.
65.6% haven’t listened to music. That makes some sense to me, since the music has to be “side-loaded”. You can’t, on a K2, download music wirelessly directly to the Kindle. The K3s will do Audible content wirelessly…only when you are using the wi-fi.
78% have never used the Kindle as a notepad. I was specific that these were non-book related notes. Again, there’s nothing in the menus to suggest this. They could easily do something to make this a known feature. Amazon could add a simple text document, maybe something saying that it was a Kindle. Then, if someone shared the highlight, it would show that text.
79.5% have never updated Facebook. That’s a fairly new feature.
89% have never tweeted from their Kindles. Since I do tweet and don’t have a FaceBook page, this seemed backwards to me…but I guess more people probably a FaceBook page than a Twitter account. The way it tweets is also a little awkward, since it doesn’t show you actual highlight.
Is it worth adding a feature that only 10 percent of people use? Yes, as long as it doesn’t cause problems. Amazon got some real publicity out of the FaceBook/Twitter features.
If you want to see more detail (I asked about frequency, not just never or not), please see the earlier post cited above. You can also still vote.
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
August 30, 2010 at 5:24 am |
I’m curious how many people use Wikipedia while they’re reading, and whether they counted that when they answered the question about visiting non-Amazon websites. I also wonder how many people make frequent notes and highlights. I’d put myself somewhere between “sometimes” and “often” on that one.
August 30, 2010 at 12:12 pm |
Thanks for writing, Andrew!
I considered splitting that one out, but maybe I’ll ask it later. I was thinking that the way Amazon promotes it, the Wiipedia and notes and highlights about the books seem like part of the reading functions. I was particularly looking at things that were outside of reading a book.
For me, I’d say…I’d say I use Wikipedia Sometimes. It’s usually unrelated to the book I’m reading. It’s when somebody says something (might be me) and I want to see that. For example, a question came up about Teri Garr’s early credits yesterday when I was at a birthday party at a lake. Nice to be able to check it on the spot…
I’ve made more than 100 highlights in a single book. I’d have to say that’s Usually for me. Notes about the book I’m reading? Sometimes…I might make a couple of notes per book, often I won’t make any, though.