michael said:
>   You are really willing to bet that on April 21, 2013 there
>   will be more iPads than Kindles plus Sonys plus nooks. . . .

well, every ipad and iphone and ipodtouch can run the
kindle software, as can a slew of phones, even today,
so all of those machines can act as "virtual kindles"...

but in terms of dedicated kindle machines, you betcha.


>   Say it in print for the folks, and
>   I'll start practicing turducken recipes. . . .

well, if you're even willing to take such a stupendous bet,
it means you're gonna rewrite the terms of engagement,
but i'll go for it anyway, to see how you're gonna do that.        :+)

***

while i've got the crystal ball out, might as well use it...

amazon will drop the price of a kindle to nearly nothing.

indeed, they'll have a "subscription" offer that will actually
make the kindle _free_ if you agree to buy so many books.

they will also offer an "all-you-can-eat" option that will
attempt to do for books what "netflix" has done for films.

similarly, they'll offer the kindle to school-districts with
a _guarantee_ that their overall textbook-costs will drop,
and increasingly-cash-starved schools will jump at that.

all of these initiatives -- and more!  -- will ensure that
lots and lots and lots and lots of kindle units are moved.

but it _still_ won't compare with the ipad juggernaut...
(not even in quantity, and especially not in profitability.)

why not?  because amazon can't do software like apple.
so they will always be three-and-a-half-steps behind...

-bowerbird