State Department Chooses Amazon Kindle Over iPad, Nook

[charlesatan]

More at http://www.informationweek.com/news/...bile/240001963

The State Department plans to award a contract to Amazon to purchase thousands of Kindle e-readers for use in its offices around the world.

Valued at up to $16.5 million over five years, the contract calls for an initial order of 2,500 Kindles, to be distributed to libraries, cultural centers, reading rooms, and other "American spaces" operated by the State Department, according to department spokeswoman. There are such locations around the globe. "These are kind of like little American information centers, where they can look at copies of magazines, U.S. reference books, books on the American political system, history," and other topics, she said.

...

In its justification for the sole-source contract, the State Department pointed to the Kindle's text-to-speech capability, as well as its extended battery life and international power adapters, as required features that weren't available with other e-readers. The department said it "identified the Amazon Kindle as the only e-Reader on the market that meets the government's needs, and Amazon as the only company possessing the essential capabilities required by the government."

[kennyc]

Cool!

[HarryT]

I'm a little surprised; the type of material that one can display well on a Kindle is rather limited. I'd have thought that something like an iPad would be a lot more flexible.

[murraypaul]

The Apple iPads offered unnecessary functions that presented “unacceptable security and usability risks for the government’s needs in this particular project,” the documents said.

Too capable

[HarryT]

OK - thanks .

[fjtorres]

Harry, they are going to be used in an english reading educational effort. They want to distribute internally-created content (txt, html, pdf, and mobi) and licensed commercial content. The readers will be reportedly locked down and linked to a common acount so the State Department can remotely manage their content after the embassy libraries lend them out. TTS, 3G, and push content delivery are requirements.
Multi-function devices are contra-indicated given the focus and the intended use.
(They want users to read, not play games.)
This is also *not* a new effort but rather the latest phase of a multi-year effort that likely predates the iPad and ePub.

We've been discussing this over at Nate-the-great's if you're interested in the contracting issues:
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...-6600-kindles/

It is a very specific project and they've (wisely and cost-effectively) chose a very specific system. (And the bulk of the money in the system is *not* for hardware.)

Also of note: they are explictly asking for Kindles with front lights.

[HarryT]

Thanks - if it's about reading English, that makes a lot more sense.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

It's also about accessibility, which is a (US) government requirement on most devices and systems used by the federal government and most (many?) states. I know the Nook Color doesn't do text-to-speech natively.

And, of course, there's cost.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

And, of course, there's cost.

... and being smart enough to realize that headlines to the affect of; "GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZES MASSIVE ANGRY BIRDS TOURNAMENT" might not be in their best interest right now.

I'm sure "tool vs. toy" was brought up at many a meeting.

[crich70]

I think this is the same topic over at this posting.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=181093

[fjtorres]

Yes, but we're staying polite.
Don't want to drift into emotional irrelevancies and get the thread closed.

This news is significant in a lot of subtle ways.
One that jumps at me is that the State Dept bought onto Kindle, not for the hardware or the commercial ebooks, but for the backend services. Yes, they want to read ebooks on the things. *But* they also want the document management and device management services that Kindle offers. (Remember the flap over 1984? Well, that is a *feature* that a government or corporate reader device *has* to have.)

The government signed up for a document distribution system that just happens to use Kindles (not smartphones, not tablets, not PCs).
And that is a clear shot across the bow at a lot of players in books *and* in PCs.
Microsoft had better take notice. Clearcase is getting Tablet integration with Windows 8 but they need to be thinking in terms of dedicated reader devices, too. In the corporate environment, $100 *secure* document viewers will find a lot of uses if supported by the proper backend systems.

Makes me wonder if that is one reason for Microsoft investing in NewCo and whether they might want to buy it outright once it's split off from B&N.

The ebook evolution isn't going to stop with recreational reading. There's more to come.

[RainingLemur]

That surprises me. I would've figured that they would have gone with iPad, myself. Maybe not the newer models, but either the 1st or 2nd run since they would probably run well enough to handle the tasks.

But, going with the Fire makes sense, I suppose. Either way, cool news?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

But, going with the Fire makes sense, I suppose. Either way, cool news?

They're not using the Fire; they're using the eInk Kindle.

[TheJohnNewton]

"...and must include a front light feature."

I wonder how Amazon is going to deliver this feature and will we see it for sale to the average Joe at Amazon soon?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by TheJohnNewton

"...and must include a front light feature."

I wonder how Amazon is going to deliver this feature?

Amazon have a lighted cover which provides a perfectly acceptable "front light feature".