I was showing off my Kindle to a friend tonight at dinner, someone I don't see that often (Happy Birthday, Carol!). I realized I have had my Kindle for a few weeks now, because I've shown it to all the folks I see on a regular basis. The Kindle was a big hit with my friend, a fellow (former) librarian. On a hunch, I checked the Amazon site. When my husband ordered the Kindle for me, it said "usually ships within 2 - 3 days (I got it in less than a week). Now it says "usually ships within 3 - 4 weeks." I think the Oprah Winfrey special deal ($50 off the $359 price) was wildly popular. Supposedly they ran out of stock and are now back-ordered.

Partly that shows you Oprah's popularity (her name is in the Firefox spell checker!), but also it shows you how many more folks would buy a Kindle if it were just a little bit cheaper.

Maybe Amazon will get the idea?