Amazon Kindle: More signs that it will be released soon

[CommanderROR]

THAT would be totally cool...^^

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

Okay, there's real content there, Harry, but thirty or forty thousand just isn't enough, frankly. Amazon has 9.9 million, if you can believe a total with a blank search.

I seriously doubt that Amazon has secured e-rights for those 9.9 million titles. I'm certain that MobiPocket hasn't, otherwise you would have seen them available already. I know for a fact that the publishers of a number of those paper titles haven't secured e-rights, either. Several houses and imprints are still in e-rights scramble mode. Once someone who does own the e-rights, whether it's the author or a publisher, decides to license them, they will still have to decide on whether to go through Sony, MobiPocket, whatever Amazon is going to do, some other route, or some combination of the above.

Whatever Amazon does, I wouldn't expect the number of available titles to be in the millions right away. I'd be surprised if it even got close to six figures.

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by VillageReader

Wouldn't it make things interesting if the Kindle is a special edition Iliad pointing to Amazon's update site rather than iRex'?

Frankly, it would make a lot more sense than Amazon getting into the hardware business.

[tsgreer]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

The one Engadget shows is a textbook which of course costs more.

Which is expensive, but cheaper than a p-textbook, so that's good news too...

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by VillageReader

Wouldn't it make things interesting if the Kindle is a special edition Iliad pointing to Amazon's update site rather than iRex'?

That could explain the high prices people are speculating on. I don't think this is especially likely, but if it were, it would be interesting to see if there's a software upgrade path for existing iLiad owners.

[BKeeper]

Originally Posted by VillageReader

Wouldn't it make things interesting if the Kindle is a special edition Iliad pointing to Amazon's update site rather than iRex'?

That would be funny, however it's highly unlikely.
Rex did try to aproach Amazon, but Amazon was not receptive of the idea. Contacts were unsuccessful. (maybe somebody tried to call iRex tech support).
In the ebook world today if Amazon choses your device this is as good as is gets. iRex is claearly not in that position.

For starters the iLiad isn't nearly as reliable, stable, or usable as Amazon would need.

Amazon is the only company with power to make the content explosion happen.
But we still have to see what Amazon has planned for their kidle.

1) They could just release a reader and port their mobipocket ebook collection.

2) Or they could have planned a really big push to make ebooks mainstream and add thousands of new quality titles to their ebook catalog.

Actually for me it makes sense that Amazon would want to design their own reader. After all for them it's not hardware at all. They are creating a new suply channel.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by BKeeper

For starters the iLiad isn't nearly as reliable, stable, or usable as Amazon would need.

I sure hope the Kindle will be.

Think how badly it would FUBAR the e-book world if Amazon jumps in a promptly falls on its face over the hardware.

I don't want to think about it any more, it's too scary. I may need to lie down for a bit now.

[MikeF74]

Does anybody here need that physics textboox?

I'm just curious to see if anybody can open this "Kindle Edition" in their MobiPocket reader.

[yvanleterrible]

I'm willing to bet a shot of Karma that Amazon Kindle ebook sales will be limited to US.

[MikeF74]

With eBooks, distributors really need to start moving away from country-based licensing and move to worldwide language-specific licensing. Language specific just to protect from companies who might only focus on one language from locking out all other eBook editions. This geographically centric licensing sounds really burdensome to the who industry.

[CommanderROR]

Yes, but remember that iTunes video downloads are still not available in Europe and that the Zune and Sony Reader never made it out of the US...so it certainly is possible that Amazon will limit both the Kindle and the ebook sales to the US market...

This would be very sad indeed...

[nekokami]

Amazon MP3 sales are apparently also limited to the US, controlled by credit card billing address.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

Yes, but remember that iTunes video downloads are still not available in Europe and that the Zune and Sony Reader never made it out of the US...so it certainly is possible that Amazon will limit both the Kindle and the ebook sales to the US market...

This would be very sad indeed...

iTunes video was in fact recently "launched" in the UK, so I think they are trying to expand it. It is a pity that many companies in the US market do seem to take a rather "insular" outlook. Perhaps they don't realise that the EU is a considerably larger market than the US!

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by jasonkchapman

Whatever Amazon does, I wouldn't expect the number of available titles to be in the millions right away. I'd be surprised if it even got close to six figures.

Agreed. That would be impossible right now. But someone (Amazon, Sony/Borders, whoever) needs to start moving substantially in that direction soon. Or else. Or else.....I'm just......just......really pissed!

[emellaich]

Originally Posted by HarryT

iTunes video was in fact recently "launched" in the UK, so I think they are trying to expand it. It is a pity that many companies in the US market do seem to take a rather "insular" outlook. Perhaps they don't realise that the EU is a considerably larger market than the US!

Well, I'm not sure it's purely about an "insular" outlook. I don't have any inside information here -- I'm just speculating -- however, I suspect it is a rights management issue. I know that when a book is published it is handled by different publishers in each region and/or country.

So you may need to begin pressuring your local publishers. Who knows, if you can get a progressive local publisher, maybe you can get someone to repeat the Baen model.

Michael