No new Kindle this year, says Amazon's chief spokesman

daffy4u · 08-28-2008, 02:14 PM

Came across this link in the Amazon Forums from the New York Times.

Quote:

I asked Craig Berman, Amazon’s chief spokesman, for comment on a possible Kindle 2.0, and today he responded.

“Don’t believe everything you read,” Mr. Berman said. “There’s a lot of rumor and speculation about the Kindle. One thing I can tell you for sure is that there will be no new version of the Kindle this year. A new version is possible sometime next year at the earliest.”

Related: Report: Not one, but several Kindle successors in the works, New Kindle Rumor: Kindle 2.0 in October 2008?

desertgrandma · 08-28-2008, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daffy4u

Came across this link in the Amazon Forums from the New York Times.

HA! I can hear the whining already.............

exreader · 08-29-2008, 12:36 AM

this comes as no surprise, really. sad but true.

firstly, it's not even been a YEAR for the first model. apple waited a bit over a year for the iphone 2.0, though they added a few firmware upgrades, it was also mostly status quo.

secondly, they've got current stock to sell through. nobody says "new model next week" when they have stock. especially apple

they sell out first. even if they had a new model for xmas, they HAVE to deny it. makes sense.

price drops. sure, they come up with a vastly cheaper integrated motherboard/etc, and drop the price of the standard model.

in fair and ideal world, they'd even add some new features to the hardware (more grey levels), but the rest is software. easy enough, and they can backwards support us 1.0 adopters

larger screens. has to happen, but nobody has the larger screens in quanity, sure prototypes exist, and there are plans, but nobody i've seen thus far has anything other than announcements for larger than 8 inch diagonal. yet. 6 months? a year? boo-yah.

i figure in another year, my kindle will be doing great, and a larger, faster model for native PDF or equivalent wouldn't be unreasonable. wifi, and bluetooth even. hey, there's no really bad reason why a kindle couldn't on the fly run a doc->mobi internal to itself

one can dream.

still waiting for a major OS upgrade though. hierarchicals! other marking features! better browser! more toys!

exreader

astra · 08-29-2008, 09:10 AM

I would not believe everything they say.
If they say there will be v2 then ppl stop buying v1 right now. They are good honest businessmen.

JSWolf · 08-29-2008, 09:11 AM

Like I've been saying. Larger screens then 6" are not going to be available until sometime next year. So given that 2.0 is going to have a larger screen model, no way it could be this year.

astra · 08-29-2008, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Like I've been saying. Larger screens then 6" are not going to be available until sometime next year. So given that 2.0 is going to have a larger screen model, no way it could be this year.

If v2 is going for a larger screen....

HarryT · 08-29-2008, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Like I've been saying. Larger screens then 6" are not going to be available until sometime next year. So given that 2.0 is going to have a larger screen model, no way it could be this year.

"Given that"? Why "given that"? Why couldn't version 2 have been, say, a version for the European market with the same screen but WiFi or GSM comms instead of CDMA?

bwaldron · 08-29-2008, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astra

I would not believe everything they say.
If they say there will be v2 then ppl stop buying v1 right now.

Absolutely. I would actually be a bit surprised if a new model doesn't arrive this year. If they don't call it "Kindle," then it wouldn't actually be a lie.

NatCh · 08-29-2008, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daffy4u

Came across this link in the Amazon Forums from the New York Times.

Quote:

I asked Craig Berman, Amazon’s chief spokesman, for comment on a possible Kindle 2.0, and today he responded.

“Don’t believe everything you read,” Mr. Berman said. “There’s a lot of rumor and speculation about the Kindle. One thing I can tell you for sure is that there will be no new version of the Kindle this year. A new version is possible sometime next year at the earliest.”

Perhaps someone will remember better, but I believe that they were saying more or less the same thing about the first Kindle this time last year.

CCDMan · 08-29-2008, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Absolutely. I would actually be a bit surprised if a new model doesn't arrive this year. If they don't call it "Kindle," then it wouldn't actually be a lie

Indeed! Lots of folks have said that "Kindle" was a truly dumb name in any case. You may have just hit the nail on the head. It would be dumb to release a new version (or new reader?) AFTER Christmas. Bezos did not get where he is by being that stupid.

DaleDe · 08-29-2008, 03:25 PM

It is unlikely that a new model would replace the current one thus a 2.0 tag is not appropriate. A bigger screen or a European model would not obsolete the current model.

Dale

Toshanda · 08-29-2008, 04:14 PM

It sounds smart on his part...
First you tell everyone that there will be no new Kindle this year so everybody keeps buying older model. And then, right before christmas, you say: Oh... we were developing one anyway, so you guys might as well buy this one now.
This way you move some of the old stock, as well as making some more money, beacuase some people will buy newer model even if thay have old one already.

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08-29-2008, 12:36 AM	#3
exreader exanimate ex post facto Posts: 55 Karma: 30 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Kindle	this comes as no surprise, really. sad but true. firstly, it's not even been a YEAR for the first model. apple waited a bit over a year for the iphone 2.0, though they added a few firmware upgrades, it was also mostly status quo. secondly, they've got current stock to sell through. nobody says "new model next week" when they have stock. especially apple they sell out first. even if they had a new model for xmas, they HAVE to deny it. makes sense. price drops. sure, they come up with a vastly cheaper integrated motherboard/etc, and drop the price of the standard model. in fair and ideal world, they'd even add some new features to the hardware (more grey levels), but the rest is software. easy enough, and they can backwards support us 1.0 adopters larger screens. has to happen, but nobody has the larger screens in quanity, sure prototypes exist, and there are plans, but nobody i've seen thus far has anything other than announcements for larger than 8 inch diagonal. yet. 6 months? a year? boo-yah. i figure in another year, my kindle will be doing great, and a larger, faster model for native PDF or equivalent wouldn't be unreasonable. wifi, and bluetooth even. hey, there's no really bad reason why a kindle couldn't on the fly run a doc->mobi internal to itself one can dream. still waiting for a major OS upgrade though. hierarchicals! other marking features! better browser! more toys! exreader

08-29-2008, 09:10 AM	#4
astra The Introvert Posts: 8,307 Karma: 1000077497 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: United Kingdom Device: Sony Reader PRS-650 & 505 & 500	I would not believe everything they say. If they say there will be v2 then ppl stop buying v1 right now. They are good honest businessmen.

08-29-2008, 09:11 AM	#5
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,987 Karma: 128903378 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Like I've been saying. Larger screens then 6" are not going to be available until sometime next year. So given that 2.0 is going to have a larger screen model, no way it could be this year.

08-29-2008, 03:25 PM	#11
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,470 Karma: 13095790 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7	It is unlikely that a new model would replace the current one thus a 2.0 tag is not appropriate. A bigger screen or a European model would not obsolete the current model. Dale

08-29-2008, 04:14 PM	#12
Toshanda Member Posts: 15 Karma: 154 Join Date: Aug 2008 Device: Palm Treo 680	It sounds smart on his part... First you tell everyone that there will be no new Kindle this year so everybody keeps buying older model. And then, right before christmas, you say: Oh... we were developing one anyway, so you guys might as well buy this one now. This way you move some of the old stock, as well as making some more money, beacuase some people will buy newer model even if thay have old one already.

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