Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and CEO, is a lucky man. Father of Amazon's Kindle (regarded by many as the world's foremost electronic reader), he'll be getting lots of presents from his "kids" on June 20.
A group of Kindles was spotted Saturday in New York City. The little, but extremely confident, electronic readers stopped traffic and got lots of stares as they strolled along Fifth Avenue, buying gifts for their dad. What do you get for a billionaire dad, who has just about everything? Well, there was a lot of what you'd expect: a Yankees cap, a Mets T-shirt, a Knicks basketball, a Giants football, an "I love NY" sweatshirt, etc.
Then there was some stuff that might surprise you. Apparently there are a few Kindle malcontents who don't enjoy a great relationship with their dad, and they were seen buying Father's Day gifts for Bezos that were clearly meant to tease and/or annoy. Among these were: a crate of apples (the fruity kind, but obviously meant as reminders of the iPad), packages of English muffins (you know, the ones with NOOKS and crannies), and a Borders gift certificate for $149.99, which just happens to be the exact price of the Borders "Kobo" electronic reader, debuting on June 17.
Bezos, who got an early warning about the "teasing" gifts through his high-tech spy system, wasn't annoyed at all. He just laughed and sang a few lines of the "Kids" song (by Adams and Strouse) from 'Bye Bye Birdie.' The lines that go:
Why can't they be like we were,
Perfect in every way?
What's the matter with kids today?
