Quote:
Originally Posted by Ripplinger
Unfortunately the trend that companies want to see now is to have consumers upgrade their gadgets yearly.
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Amazon, at least, seems innocent of making older devices obsolete.
More than two years after release, there was a Kindle Keyboard software update for compatibility with the new KF8 book format. And AFAIK (please correct me if wrong), newly published books sold by Amazon still work on the original 2007 Kindles. Plus, after more than 5 years, those original Kindles still have unlimited free cell-phone network internet for text-based web sites like twp.com (Washington Post mobile).
The eInk Kindle browser degraded about two months ago because the service that allows easy font size control (
www.readingthenet.com) is down until later this month, per programmer Robin Gardner. But that's not Amazon. My periodical subscriptions through Amazon (New York Times Latest News Blog; Atlantic Monthly) work the same as ever.
I don't know about other brands of eReaders. Are manufactures doing anything to make them obsolete?
Now, if someone wants to replace this year's model with last year's, no automaker, or tech company, is going to stop them.