Think of e-readers and the first name that likely will come to your mind is the Kindle. That should be a nice indicator of the sort of popularity the Amazon Kindle range of e-readers enjoys the world over. However, ever wondered how a Kindle came to be known as such? The good folks at How-to-Geek did and have the answer too.
You got to tread back to a time when Amazon has already upgraded itself from a seller of books to almost everything under the sun. That was also when the then CEO Jeff Bezos became embossed with the idea of an e-reader device featuring an E Ink display and is keen to launch one before his competitors. That became a reality in 2007 when Amazon launched the first gen Kindle device, three years after first starting out with the idea in 2004 and thirteen years after Bezos had started off by selling books online in 1994.
However, while in the making, the Kindle used the codename, ‘Fiona’. So how did the term Kindle come into the picture? Credit for that goes to the branding consultants Michael Cronan and Karin Hibma who were hired by Bezos to suggest a commercial name for Fiona. Bezos wanted something that won’t sound techie but will also make one excited to read something. Bezos also wanted the name to sound natural when used in expressions such as ‘curling up with my Kindle’ and such.
Needless to say, Kindle which stands for lighting a fire made a perfect fit. The rest, as they say, is history. The Kindle did manage to light up a fire, and a massive one at that too, enough for others to emulate the business model and come up with similar devices. Not only did the Kindle start a trend worldwide but also lit the proverbial fire among book lovers to take up reading in the electronic format. The fire is still burning, it must be said and should remain so for many many years to come.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
