(Column) - What was Amazon thinking? Kindle? Seriously? Like a lot of other rational people, I don't see the point in lugging around Kindle. It's really just a luxury device for gadget lovers who have everything and are craving for something more to add to their collection. I could go on and on about why Kindle is a disaster, but there are some key issues to point out before I dissect and start looking for minute abnormalities.

Let's see:

1. Price Tag: Is Amazon serious with its $400 price tag? Even the most diehard book readers would choose to purchase a few extra books than an e-book reader. It's such a waste. As much as I get the "novelty" behind such a device, Amazon should realize the value-add for a product and price it accordingly. For a retailer that claims reasonable prices, Kindle sure isn't one of those deals.

2. Superior Technology: Are you kidding me? While superior technology is great, and I'm a huge proponent of it naturally, there are just some things that should be read in paper. A lot of people read books for the sheer joy of reading and getting away from all things technology and sinking into a good storyline. It's nice to transform everything using latest technology, but some of us prefer to stick with old school book reading and get away from computer screens after 18 hours of looking at them. It's relaxing, you know. And once in a while, it doesn't hurt to skip looking at a digital display.

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3. Choices: Where are the choices? It's great to see a "decent" selection of books and other print titles in their digital formats, but what if the content isn't there? And I'm willing to bet a lot of content that offline readers read isn't up for sale yet. Moreover, let's say I have a collection of books already on my bookshelf, why should I have to pay additionally to get a digital format? Why should I pay twice for the same book? That + the price of Kindle. No, thank you, I'll keep building my library the old-fashioned way.

4. Content Pricing: Again, what a brilliant move! Charge higher prices for practically all digital content and squeeze out everything you possibly can from people who are willing to give this a try. Genius, I tell you! Tell me again, Amazon, why am I paying inflated prices, or paying at all, for that matter, to read easily accessible content that doesn't cost me anything online?

5. Imperfect Technology: Kindle isn't even market ready yet. What made Amazon think we are just going to swallow this? Text coloring is a huge turn off. PDF conversion is iffy at best. The browser lacks proper functionality. Need I go on? If you are going to charge $400 from everyone, at least have the courtesy to perfect the product. Please have your team spend a week with Steve Jobs (you know, the mastermind behind Apple). He'll straighten them out, and believe us, it's good for you and their careers.

This is just the beginning. I haven't started complaining about the other little annoyances that plague Kindle. Talk about a technological disaster, but I suppose, gadget lovers will want to give it a try during this shopping season. Amazon needs to do a lot of work if it wants digital content to work with an e-book reader. Since Kindle 1.0 is obviously a joke, get back to work, guys. You have a lot of hard work and overnighters to pull before Kindle will take off. Just so you know, the first impression was a disaster.

Click here to check out the latest prices on Amazon's Kindle!