WSJ: Amazon to Release Tablet, Two new Kindles, in October

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by =X=

You must have suffered a recent head trama so I will try to help you out.

Here in MR you MUST pick a format and staunchly support that format. Not only that, you must spread FUD on opposing formats and companies that support such inferior formats.

To say you are format agnostic is unacceptable and will be grounds for your account to be disabled.

Now that you have been reprogrammed...you may proceed.
=X=

Whoops, and here I read 3 formats! Mobi on WinCE devices, Epub on my Sony (now I finally figured out how to add a small top margin), and PDF on my Mini...

But then I'm in member of the Ebook Liberation and Transformation Front!

OT: had the tablet been 7", I might be interested. 9" is either too small for what I want with a tablet, and too large for an ereader.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by WikiStealer

October?!? Does that mean I should wait until then to decide whether or not to grab the $139 deal that started this week?

Depends. Do you want a touch screen Kindle or are you satisfied with the keyboard? Also, the longer you wait, the more offers you'll miss out on. I had my KSO WiFi paid for in the first month of ownership.

I'm thinking that the new Kindles will be a keyboard WiFi and a touch screen 3G. I definitely don't regret being an early adopter for the WiFi version, because it's already paid for itself twice over now. Free is free and if you like the offers presented so far, you'll soon have your KSO paid for courtesy of Amazon.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

But then I'm in member of the Ebook Liberation and Transformation Front!

Shsssh ...do you want the fire department after us?

[scheichxodox]

As I already said in this thread: I predict Amazon will launch the first reader based on plastic display (again exclusively only for Amazon for at least a half year) with a better resolution (300 dpi), with touch, no keyboard, for $99 (they always undercut the prices with a new reader) in the autumn.

[ProfCrash]

Can I vote for tea as the dominant format?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by WikiStealer

October?!? Does that mean I should wait until then to decide whether or not to grab the $139 deal that started this week?

Definitely not october, since Amazon generally puts new Kindles up for pre-order a month ahead. Also, the october date speculation is for the (proposed) tablet, not necessarily the readers. As the poet said, expect some news on that front in the next two weeks.

Now, if we're throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks, I throw this out: odds are Amazon is going to fork the Kindle line: keep the K3 design for ad-supported readers and intro the K4s solely as full price models. Pricing? WiFi KSO at $99 by xmas, entry level K4 $119, 3G KSO $139, 3G K4 $169. And sometime next spring they move the KSO to the fourth gen design.

Would not be surprised to see the Kindle touch with a larger than 6" screen, maybe 8 or 9, in a 16x10 aspect.

Would also not be surprised if the WSJ were totally off base and Amazon is going in an entirely different direction.

[nesler]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Definitely not october, since Amazon generally puts new Kindles up for pre-order a month ahead. Also, the october date speculation is for the (proposed) tablet, not necessarily the readers. As the poet said, expect some news on that front in the next two weeks.

Now, if we're throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks, I throw this out: odds are Amazon is going to fork the Kindle line: keep the K3 design for ad-supported readers and intro the K4s solely as full price models. Pricing? WiFi KSO at $99 by xmas, entry level K4 $119, 3G KSO $139, 3G K4 $169. And sometime next spring they move the KSO to the fourth gen design.

Would not be surprised to see the Kindle touch with a larger than 6" screen, maybe 8 or 9, in a 16x10 aspect.

Would also not be surprised if the WSJ were totally off base and Amazon is going in an entirely different direction.

Ha, this has gotten a bit confusing, what with all the different models floating around. I do think the WSJ is more or less on the ball. The tablet move has been supported by a number of people, and given that the K3 was announced just shy of a year ago, they're due for the K4.

First up, I wonder if they'll dump the DX model with the advent of the tablet line. You have to trim the line somewhere, otherwise it becomes a disorganized mess in the customers' minds. The DX has tended to lag behind when it comes to firmware, and I think this might be where they finally say the heck with it.

I don't see them having this big mix of K3s and K4s. I do think that the low-end K4 will be pretty much identical to the K3, with just enough surface changes to distinguish it. And I can't help but wonder if the non-touch K4 will be wifi only, with no 3G model. The K3 wifi-only hardware launched a year ago for 139, sans special offer subsidization. I think they can get it to 99 bucks this year. And maybe 79 with SO. I really, really think they want to hurt B&N with the double-digit price point.

Then the new K4 touch edition. I would think they're due for a higher-res screen, similar to the Google Reader. Something better suited to rendering a menu system displaying a lot of book covers (like the other touch-based menu systems out there).

There would definitely be a wifi-only version, and I have to think that they'll price it to undercut the Nook. 129? Heck, if the Kobo can sell for 129 without the massive infrastructure that Amazon has, maybe Amazon can get the K4 Touch down to 120 or 115. But maybe that's me being overboard. 169 for the 3G version?

And again, special offers is a whole other ballgame. I definitely don't see Amazon abandoning that tangent. It's proved wildly popular, and it's a huge help in the price-point war. And the recent AT&T deal is another big wrinkle. So maybe across the board, 25 bucks off of a wifi model with SO, and 50 off of 3G models?

I will be completely shocked if Amazon doesn't make a big move on prices. This is the first time where they've fallen behind a competitor in sales. The Nook is winning right now. Amazon is coming out swinging against Apple, and I have to assume that they're going to do their damnedest to do the same twice over to B&N by challenging the tech of the Nook Color with their tablets and the price of the Nook Touch with the Kindle line.

It'll be interesting.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Originally Posted by =X=

You must have suffered a recent head trama so I will try to help you out.

Here in MR you MUST pick a format and staunchly support that format. Not only that, you must spread FUD on opposing formats and companies that support such inferior formats.

To say you are format agnostic is unacceptable and will be grounds for your account to be disabled.

Now that you have been reprogrammed...you may proceed.
=X=

I started out a Nook lover and am now a Kindle convert so my entire library is in both formats, good to go and on portable Calibre.

[newlaza]

*hops up and down*

[boswd]

Originally Posted by spellbanisher

Way to steal Google's thunder, Amazon.

ummmm google owns Android

[boswd]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Whoops, and here I read 3 formats! Mobi on WinCE devices, Epub on my Sony (now I finally figured out how to add a small top margin), and PDF on my Mini...

But then I'm in member of the Ebook Liberation and Transformation Front!

OT: had the tablet been 7", I might be interested. 9" is either too small for what I want with a tablet, and too large for an ereader.

I guess the counter argument is wouldn't it be nice to read all these different formats without either having to strip or convert or buy multiiple devices.

[DiapDealer]

YAY Amazon!, for the possibility of a brand new non-touch Kindle. You heard me... you REALLY, really heard me.
And listened.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by boswd

I guess the counter argument is wouldn't it be nice to read all these different formats without either having to strip or convert or buy multiiple devices.

Yes, but that's still somewhere far far far in the future. As I can't see any company creating my ideal reader...

Besides, I create all these formats from one source anyway

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

hmm. I didn't see any sales-figure guessing. maybe I'm not looking at the correct article.

The article at the link given in the first post has been changed. It's no longer the same article.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

YAY Amazon!, for the possibility of a brand new non-touch Kindle. You heard me... you REALLY, really heard me.
And listened.

seconded. this is what I'm excited about, assuming it's true.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The article at the link given in the first post has been changed. It's no longer the same article.

Ah. ok.