A Kindle Revolution

Michael Lewis’ latest book “The Big Short” was released on Tuesday. As a Lewis fan, I was looking forward to getting the book. But not the big, heavy, expensive hardback version. I wanted to download the book to my Kindle.

But alas, no Kindle version was available. And consumers are getting testy–the book now has 37 one-star reviews, most of which are from Kindle owners who want an e-book version.

For a long time, publishers have followed the formula of releasing a more expensive, hardback version of a book before finally releasing a paperback version. Readers have accepted this as the way things are and either sucked up the cost of the hardback or patiently waited for the paperback version.

But not anymore. Amazon released pent up consumer demand for a new, electronic book option with the Kindle, including demand from people like me who didn’t even realize they wanted an e-book three months ago. So what does this have to do with education?

The Kindle illustrates how demand can be created by better, innovative products, and how it can snowball. It’s not hard to imagine a technology that changes when, how and where people learn in the same way the Kindle has changed book reading: making it cost effective, broadly available,  convenient. After that, demand could snowball to the point where students guffaw at being told they must sit in a chair for a certain number of hours to officially have learned something.

Igniting demand isn’t just limited to fancy new technology and online learning. You can also see it in neighborhoods were new brick and mortar school options start opening–parents and students who didn’t realize there could be something better suddenly see something better–and then they start to demand it.

Tagged as: Kindle, Michael Lewis, Online Education, The Big Short