Picking a new eReader
To a product manager, shopping for a new eReader is not just a purchase decision. It's about optimising knowledge organisation
My kindle is no longer working after 15 years of service.
To a product manager, shopping for a new eReader is not just a purchase decision.
Problem to resolve
The problem looks clear enough: I don’t have a eReader to buy and read books.
But this problem statement contains a few assumption:
I want to read
I want to read a lot
I want to read a lot on a eReader
I want to buy ebook from an online store to read
How many of them are truth? There’s a lot more nitty-gritty in them.
User research on myself
I am the user of this service, so I need to talk to myself about a few things to understand the real problems.
How often do I ready on eReader?
What kind of publication am I going to read?
Do I use other medium to read?
Where am I going to read on eReader, and what I am doing before and after reading?
The list goes on, but the key question should be: Why do I read?
To me, reading is about knowledge, information. I read for inspiration.
Without a eReader, I have less chance to read. Even with a very old Kindle before, experience is not great so I read less then what I hope to. Thoughts are also not well kept because it’s designed for read-only, not writing.
So the real problem to resolve is:
How to optimise knowledge organisation
What success looks like
I can read and annotate books from anywhere, even I only have 5 minutes between something. When I am walking, I can still listen to books. I have access to the wisdom in English and Chinese books, and read magazine comfortable for the latest informations
The two mainstream eReader maker, Amazon and Kobo, are to similar. I eventually went for Kobo because, based on the success criteria, Kobo has 3 things stood out
They both have options with stylus but Kindle scribe is too big to keep in my bag daily
Kobo has a better Chinese library
Kobo’s newest Colour Libra makes magazine reading is much more delightful experience
Kobo natively connect with Libby, which support may UK public library from which I can borrow books a magazine (lower the cost of my massive reading)
The trade-off
There will be a small portion of book only available on Amazon, mostly independent authors. You can still buy from Amazon then de-DRM them and transfer to Kobo. Totally legal, just need to click a few button
That’s a price I can take, so here’s my new toy 🙂
