CNET Pre-Announces Amazon Kindle Launch

[CommanderROR]

Well, Monday is not far away, and I guess we'll all know what the deal is then...

I'm really worried about the "US exclusive thing" though...we really don't need yet another reader that is limited to a specific continent...but there were rumours that made it seem a bit more likely that this will be an internation device.

[Leaping Gnome]

You have seen the quality of CNet reporting on the Sony Reader and how many things they got just plain wrong, and that is out and public and in their hands. Why would you trust them on the Kindle, a product that is not even announced?

[CCDMan]

Ugly I can put up with if it is functional.

Personally, I would be more concerned about size. A keyboard, to be halfway usable, is gonna make it bigger. Light and portable are a REALLY big part of any reader for me, one of the things I like about the Sony. If is is a huge clunker, it is no sale to me, I don't care what it does.

[bob_ninja]

"proved to be a bust" is correct assuming the expectation of a rapid adoption by wider public (such as for iPods). Of course, such expectation is insane. iPod followed after many years of other music players already established the market and general public became familiar with digital music. Sony's device is only one of the 1st to establish a new eBook category that for the most part didn't exist (except for a niche of PDA and other exotic device users). Writer's expectations/assumptions are just plain wrong.

The newspaper delivery via wifi is an excellent feature that will certainly bring it a lot of customers even if many people don't care for it. There are plenty of people in large metropolitan areas spending 30-60 min on trains and busses commuting to work reading newspapers. I am sure they would love to save 5 min by not having to stop by the store to pickup paper, plus the annoyance of having to discard it afterwards, as well as fighting with big pages, etc. Instead Amazon could simply push the latest copy via wifi at a train/bus station as customer gets onto a train/bus. Simple, clean, quick/easy access to sections of interest, etc. Also newspapre companies save a bunch of money on printing and delivery, which these days is becoming more expensive with higher fuel costs.

What happened to the Illiad test with nespapers in Europe?

P.S.: The only issue is wifi drain on battery can be considerable. They would have to have an easy method of switching wifi on/off to ensure minimum power drain.

[bob_ninja]

Originally Posted by CCDMan

Personally, I would be more concerned about size. A keyboard, to be halfway usable, is gonna make it bigger. Light and portable are a REALLY big part of any reader for me, one of the things I like about the Sony. If is is a huge clunker, it is no sale to me, I don't care what it does.

If keyboard folds as a cover on top of the screen then you are only addings little bit of thickness.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by bob_ninja

P.S.: The only issue is wifi drain on battery can be considerable. They would have to have an easy method of switching wifi on/off to ensure minimum power drain.

The FCC model had a switch on the back that turned off the Wifi. Hopefully they kept that.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by bob_ninja

The newspaper delivery via wifi is an excellent feature that will certainly bring it a lot of customers even if many people don't care for it...

I agree... it could be even better if they can also get a subscription and download the papers from their home connection, thereby saving the power on WiFi. Either way, we should see a lot of businesspeople taking notice of that feature and running with it.

And if you get businesspeople buying Kindles for newspapers, e-books may not be too far behind...

[bob_ninja]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

I agree... it could be even better if they can also get a subscription and download the papers from their home connection, thereby saving the power on WiFi. Either way, we should see a lot of businesspeople taking notice of that feature and running with it.

And if you get businesspeople buying Kindles for newspapers, e-books may not be too far behind...

Exactly. Once you have a critical mass of consumers on a platform (such as iPod) then the platform and its clients have much more leverage (such as Apple pushing down to $0.99 price). Same will happen for eBooks once we get a critical mass of eBook/ePaper consumers.

[NatCh]

Plus the effect increased demand will have on e-ink prices.

[nekokami]

The rumored newspaper deals and hotel promotion sound promising, as does the pressure on publishers to put their inventories online. Still waiting to find out how severely they've locked down the format.

[Nate the great]

He says he has his own sources, and I think there is a good chance he does.

I've put together a list of new information on the Kindle, and the picture is coming together nicely. Some of these are from my own sources, some are from Caroline at CNet News, who put together a great piece on the Kindle, and if timestamps have it right, scooped the news of Monday's Launch a few hours before we did.
• That big fat keyboard that seems useless? It's not. The Kindle will have email. And the keyboard is good for search, too.
• There is no backlight. Instead, an external lamp on an arm is going to help with night reading.
• We've suspected EVDO, but CNet suspects Sprint. It apparently has Wi-Fi, too.
• Book download should take 2 minutes.
• Yes, that is the final design. (Snowspeeder-ish, as reader Atroc. has commented)
• A bigger book collection than even Sony, with 50-100 news sources including the WSJ and NYTimes.
• Audiobook support and a headphone jack.
• Bezos will unveil it on Monday.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/amazon-ki...+fi-323732.php

[TadW]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

He says he has his own sources, and I think there is a good chance he does.

Most of this has already been known.

I guess, if the list is all correct, the biggest "news" is that the device on the leaked photo will resemble the final product.

[da_jane]

Here's what I see happening. Kindle is announced. Lots of press play about ebooks and eink technology. People gasp in horror over the design but hear that there is an alternative called the Sony Reader. . . .

I know this sounds inane (and maybe insane) but even if Kindle was the best e book reader ever, it is not going to sell because it is so horrible looking. Looks matter, Amazon.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by da_jane

Here's what I see happening. Kindle is announced. Lots of press play about ebooks and eink technology. People gasp in horror over the design but hear that there is an alternative called the Sony Reader. . . .

More likely to benefit the Gen3 than the Sony, if Amazon have the sense to push the MobiPocket format (which, since they own Mobi), would seem sensible.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by da_jane

Here's what I see happening. Kindle is announced. Lots of press play about ebooks and eink technology. People gasp in horror over the design but hear that there is an alternative called the Sony Reader. . . .

I know this sounds inane (and maybe insane) but even if Kindle was the best e book reader ever, it is not going to sell because it is so horrible looking. Looks matter, Amazon.

I don't believe the design we know will stand and be produced. The way it is will not cut it in this design hungry society. What really makes the Kindle attractive are the features no other device has used so far.