unfair
Amazon creates a service that FINALLY enables people to gift Kindlebooks, and The Register posts a negative article about it. Why?
Of course they are trying to make money. They are a business, and that is what businesses do. Did you expect them to create a service to lose money?
This has the potential to give a huge boost to the e-book industry. Yes, the neighborhood bookstores will suffer, but lamenting their fate is like complaining that the MP3 put all of the record stores out of business, or weaping over the loss of rickshaws in other parts of the world with the spread of the automobile. Changes happen. And, this one is not even a sudden one.
The publishing industry and booksellers have known this day would be coming for several decades. They have had opportunities to embrace it. Some have, and some haven't. Why is Amazon getting blamed by The Register for the plight of booksellers, especially when (by many accounts) Amazon is actually making reading more popular?
Fortunately for booksellers, there are problems with Amazon's business model (you don't actually own the books--no resale, reselling, or regifting), and I think people will not be as quick to turn away from traditional books as they might have been. There is still some time left for booksellers to adapt. But, are the booksellers or moneymaking the interesting issues?
I think the author needs to give this another think. Personally, I consider it pretty incredible that we can now send gifts, not just gift certificates, by email. Is this the first time this has happened? I would call that pretty revolutionary and worthy of a bit more positive coverage.