My Christmas Conundrum

Let me start by confessing something.  It’s been eating away at me for years and years. Whew, so here it goes…I am a horrible Christmas gift shopper! OK, I said it and now it’s out there in the open. I’m truly awful at every aspect of the gifting process.

I can never figure out what to get someone, even those I’ve known all my life (Hell, especially those I’ve known all my life!) Once I do decide on a gift, usually with input from friends; I’m sure I don’t shop for the best deal and almost always pay too much.  I can’t even wrap the damn things; my gifts are so easy to spot under the tree because they look like they’ve been wrapped by a kindergartener or a gorilla. OK, that’s not fair; I have in fact seen some gorillas do a better job than me.  

This year is no different, I’m stressing on what to get mom (she’s the most difficult to shop for on my list). Having dinner with a friend, I mentioned the problem and she asked what my mother liked. “Reading”, I said – remembering all the books I’ve given my mother on Christmases past. Then something amazing happened, instead of offering a book idea, she offered a “reading” idea. “How about a Kindle”? She asked. Wow! What a great idea.  So, I ran with it.

I had thought about them in the past for myself, and thought that the iPad might be a better buy, until I read a review about customers’ “love” for the Kindle. What emerged was an overwhelming preference for the “readablility” of the Kindle. Most quotes were from people who owned both gadgets, and the results were heavily favoring the Kindle because it is lighter and easier to hold in one hand, the screen had less glare, and the non-backlit feature was actually easier on the eyes!

The folks at Amazon should play up on this positioning but no where in the ads or campaigns have I seen direct comparisons to the iPad. I know when considering a digital reader, the iPad is in the evoked set of competitive products but the Kindle rates superior as an e-book reader. Maybe they don’t want to go toe-to-toe with Apple, but in this case I think they should.

OK, there’s one Christmas gift down and only a few more to go… I wonder if Amazon offers gift wrapping?