Redshirt is a slang term for a minor stock character of an adventure drama who dies violently soon after being introduced in order to dramatize the dangerous situation experienced by the main characters. (via Wikipedia)

There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth and frankly absurd snobbery (well the iPad is fine for Scobel who only skins his reading material, but *I* immerse myself) from Kindle fanboys over whether or not the iPad is a Kindle killer. Get over it. It is. And that is precisely what Amazon wanted with one exception. The Kindle when Jeff Bezos first groaned and strained and gave birth was a butt-ugly abomination. But it was a good e-reader. It got slightly prettier or it grew on us. But Amazon never wanted to be a hardware manufacturer. They exist to sell content. They saw the future in e-publishing and wanted to get everyone addicted, so they provided the initial transmission vector knowing that if they built it, others would come. And Come They Have. The one thing Amazon did not want, though, is Apple’s horning in on the content business. But make no mistake about it, Amazon is perfectly willing to let the Kindle be killed. It was always intended to be a sacrificial lamb.

And as usual, you, my dear readers, are welcome to be wrong.

UPDATE: Imagine my surprise when this article was aloud on a recent episode of The Kindle Chronicles with Len Edgerly (the blog which was linked above). I am a regular listener, and it is a real jolt when you are just going about your business when all of a sudden the subject changes to you! Len very graciously clarified that he was not intending to be a Kindle-snob, and thankfully understood the satirical nature of this blog. We had a pleasant email exchange, and I may be a guest on his show! I am a frequent guest on theological shows but have only been a guest on one other tech show (and that one had a religious edge, snarkily so–that being The Born Again Mac User). I look forward to it! I sent Len this picture of me and my former Kindle which I sold while trying to save for an iPad. If you are an e-reading type, do check out his podcast. It is one of my regular listens.