Thread: The "Kindle" iPod of reading - Newsweek scoops
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Old 11-18-2007, 07:12 AM   #1
Nate the great
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The "Kindle" iPod of reading - Newsweek scoops
Newsweek apparently scored at least one interview about the Kindle. Here are the juicy parts:

Quote:
...the Kindle (named to evoke the crackling ignition of knowledge) has the dimensions of a paperback, with a tapering of its width that emulates the bulge toward a book's binding. It weighs but 10.3 ounces...
The design was deliberate.

Quote:
The Kindle gets as many as 30 hours of reading on a charge, and recharges in two hours.
If we can get an honest 20 hours out of it with the wireless, I'll be happy. But it's not good enough to get me to give up my PRS500.

Quote:
In addition, the Kindle can venture out on the Web itself--to look up things in Wikipedia, search via Google or follow links from blogs and other Web pages. You can jot down a gloss on the page of the book you're reading, or capture passages with an electronic version of a highlight pen. And if you or a friend sends a word document or PDF file to your private Kindle e-mail address, it appears in your Kindle library, just as a book does. Though Bezos is reluctant to make the comparison, Amazon believes it has created the iPod of reading.
Some more Kindle details from the article:
  • 6-inch E Ink screen
  • Price: $399
  • weighs 10.3 ounces
  • 30 hours of reading on a charge, and recharges in two hours
  • has a "sleep mode"
  • built-in memory holds 200 e-books
  • allows searches within e-books
  • wireless capability through "Whispernet" (based on EVDO) which extends the Amazon store
  • "buying a book with a Kindle is a one-touch process."
  • Over 88'000 e-book titles will be available on launch
  • NYTimes bestsellers priced at $9.99
  • First chapter of almost any e-book for free
  • Available newspaper subscriptions: the Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Le Monde
  • Available magazine subscriptions: The Atlantic
  • Subscriptions to blogs also cost you something!
  • Lookup features for Wikipedia, Google Search
  • Private Kindle e-mail addresses to communicate with other Kindle users
  • Development of the Kindle began in 2004

I added some more details from the interview -- Alex
Last edited by Nate the great; 11-18-2007 at 07:35 AM.
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