Gizmodo has a good post by Mat Honan which fleshes out what became obvious yesterday after Amazon’s dazzling Kindle Fire presentation: For the time being, Jeff Bezos will fill the void created by Steve Jobs stepping aside at Apple. Amazon has always been formidable, but a little blah. No more. An excerpt:

“And so when it was all over, the press, the great opinionator that drives purchasing decisions, was utterly flabbergasted. It was totally Jobsed, so to speak. Hypnotized and drawn in by the mind-blowing Bezos.

Much of that that is because of his passion. You can see it in his eyes, full of zeal and bordering on crazy. He isn’t just conning you, he believes in it. He feels strongly that he’s got the right product, at the right time. And so watch him and you will too.

And yet, it’s not just about his salesmanship. ‘Jeff Bezos is the new Ron Popeil‘ is a whole other story. He mirrors Apple’s former CEO in a host of other ways as well.

Most obviously, he’s a founder/CEO. Amazon is his. Yes, it’s a public company, but it goes where his vision takes it. It follows his mind into markets. Amazon is Jeff Bezos. Without him it would be adrift.”

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“The instruction we find in books is like fire”: