Amazon is -- like most companies do, as it is hard to quantify -- ignoring the opportunity cost of including DRM.
I and I am sure hundreds of thousands if not millions more like me would already have a Kindle were it not for the DRM.
I and I am sure hundreds of thousands if not millions more like me would already have a Kindle were it not for the DRM.
It seems unlikely that a corporation with so much to gain would not have done the numbers and research here. I understand you think those with your point of view are legion, but the mere fact that a large business is successfully pursuing a strategy counter your beliefs itself argues against this notion.
As for DRM, if you think that at least 200,000 people haven't heard of DRM (all my statement requires, if you'll read closely) ok then.
Do your own research, if you want to. There are resources available. The EFF alone has around 80,000 members, I believe, and I am sure just about every one of them knows what DRM is.
The problem with measuring opportunity cost is that it is very, very, very hard to measure. DRM means that I haven't bought about $500 worth of books or so, so far, I'd guess.
Wonder how many people there are like me? More than a few, even without having hard numbers, I'd wager.
I agree completely that opportunity cost is very, very, very hard to measure. Which is why I'm more likely to believe someone with resources, incentive, and skin in the game rather than anecdotal armchair talk.
If I had to guess, I'd probably say about 5% of the US population in toto has heard of DRM and could define it to a reasonable approximation. (That's about 15 million people.)
You chose to take the higher number in my range for me to "prove." I called you on it.
There are about 5.8 million people in the tech industry in the US. I've worked in some pretty big tech shops (and some small ones) in the US. Almost everyone I've worked with has heard of DRM, no matter what they think of it.
But assuming even only 10% of them have heard of DRM (an extremely low estimate) that'd be 580,000 people right there.
That's not proof, as there can't be any such thing in this case.