Any news if Amazon plans on rolling out a Kindle 4.0 soon?

[mdmorrissey]

I would buy a Kindle tomorrow if it could read library books.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by mdmorrissey

I would buy a Kindle tomorrow if it could read library books.

The way the BPHs are going there soon won't be any library ebooks to check out anyway.

[Joonbug1]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The way the BPHs are going there soon won't be any library ebooks to check out anyway.

I think I know what you're referencing. Did you hear the news about HarperCollins instituting a policy to delete library ebooks after they've been lent out over the net a little over 20 times or such?
Libraries actually called for boycotts on HarperCollins.
It really seems like the Traditional Big NY Publishers have no clue what the average reader wants and is further alienating them, to the disadvantage of them (and to the authors signed to their agencies).

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by mdmorrissey

I would buy a Kindle tomorrow if it could read library books.

I don't see why owning two ereaders is considered an unacceptable choice for avid readers (which probably defines many of us here).

I have a Kindle 3 which I prefer to read on, has great access to the largest selection of commercial books, a great screen and user community. When I purchase books for it, I generally save $5 or more per title; over time, the device pays for itself.

I have an original Kobo which I enjoy reading on, has access to a surprising number of commercial books not at Amazon, access to free-to-read library books, performs the basics of an e-ink reader, and has a vocal user community the vendor listens to. When I purchase books for it, I often save $10 per title, partly due to Kobo's ongoing generous weekend discounts; over time, the device pays for itself.

In this real-life example which I am living today, and at around $150 per ereader, I am net money in my pocket within a year of owning each device.

Amazon's challenge, if it were to release a K4 in late summer, is what could it offer that improves the current value proposition? Really, the only thing Kindle lacks is library access: if Amazon figures out how to be the conduit to the end-user that Overdrive is today -- borrow/return a book "owned" by your local library which is facilitated by Amazon's servers / software -- then it essentially erases the remaining competitive gap. (Another solution would be to enable a segregated "library mode" which handles DRM epub directly on a Kindle from Overdrive using wifi only as transport through Amazon to complete and validate the transaction.)

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Amazon would be crazy to do this. Amazon is not crazy. Therefore, Amazon will not do this.

Crazy in what way, if there isn't enough compelling changes to make to bring out a new reading-only kindle then it makes perfect sense to expand the range a little bit further and with them selling mp3s, movies and at some point android apps then a tablet would actually be a logical move to make if it was an addition to the range in the way that the nook color was for b&n and not a direct replacement.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Amazon doing an Android tablet, likely or not, does not imply said device would be a Kindle or would succeed/replace Kindle.
My take is when/if Amazon puts out a tablet it *won't* muddy the waters by calling it a Kindle at all.

They would probably look at it as more building on an established brand than they would muddying the waters, you simply have a range of the kindle 3, DX and the Tab/Color or whatever suffix they dreamed up.

[ficbot]

Originally Posted by mdmorrissey

I would buy a Kindle tomorrow if it could read library books.

It can, you just have to fiddle a bit.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Barty

They'll come out with a new kindle when there is a new e ink display. There's no new e ink display so far, except the triton, which looks crappy. I wouldn't call it a color display; more a colorized display.

Amazon could increase the grayscale screen resolution from 600 x 800 to 768 x 1024, see 'Story HD' with 6 inch e-ink display with 1024 * 768 resolution. I don't know if this would be worthwhile though. The other thing they could do is reduce the hardware cost to allow them to sell for less. However, the price of the K3 might go down over time, even without a hardware refresh.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

Amazon could increase the grayscale screen resolution from 600 x 800 to 768 x 1024, see 'Story HD' with 6 inch e-ink display with 1024 * 768 resolution. I don't know if this would be worthwhile though. The other thing they could do is reduce the hardware cost to allow them to sell for less. However, the price of the K3 might go down over time, even without a hardware refresh.

Exactly.
Amazon is not in the electronics business; they are in the ebook retailing business.
Kindle is a means to an end, not an end unto itself.
Anybody rationally trying to analyze where Amazon takes the Kindle brand needs to consider first, second, and last how the hypothetical change helps sell more ebooks. And, not just any ebooks, but Amazon's bread and butter product: mainstrean recreational reading ebooks.
Most of the criticisms and proposed "improvements" aimed at Kindle aren't about Amazon selling more ebooks but about making the reader more suitable for *other* markets; academic PDFs, content creation, magazines, and (in the case of android tablets) non-reading functions.

The changes that Amazon is more likely to make are those that help sell ebooks by making Kindle provide a better *reading* experience. Going from K2 to K3, Amazon made the reader incrementally thinner, narrower, lighter. They tweaked the ergonomics from tolerable to actually good. And they got a screen that was more readable through higher contrast. And they improved the battery life. All, while dropping the entry price of the product line. The result? A sales rate of a million Kindles a month (more or less).

Higher resolution? A B&W 6in screen running at 167 dpi is fine for reading fiction. The incremental improvement of going to 213 dpi would help graphics, small sized text, maybe ornamental fonts. And how much of those do you find in your typical commercial ebook? What would such a move do to the Kindle's build cost? Increase it? Keep it from going down?

Color? It might help sell more magazines. Comics. Books? Well, color covers would look prettier... And what would it do to battery life (if LCD-based) or text readability/contrast (if eink)?

Touch-screens? Extra cost yes. Extra sales? Not likely. (Ask Sony.)

Video playback? Action games? Arbitrary apps? Tablets are *not* primarily ebook readers though some of us do use them a lot for it (*I* do.). And anything that isn't primarily an ebook reader isn't a Kindle. (As I said above; Kindles exist to sell ebooks.)

At this point we've seen enough of Amazon's evolution of Kindle to get a good idea of what they are likely to do with each of the three members of the family.
The K3 is a mainstream consumer ebook reader. It's all about volume and low cost.
The KDX is a specialty reader/document viewer that will either evolve into a textbook reader or vanish altogether.
The Kindle apps exist to sell ebooks to owners of multifunction devices.

Now, what gaps exist in that strategy?
With Kindle apps out there on every major portable and desktop OS, what *need* does Amazon have to do a Kindle cellphone, webpad, or media player?
None.
They already piggyback on everybody else's hardware.

As I said, K4 is most likely going to look pretty much as K3. Just cheaper.
Kindle has never tried to be all things to all people (hence the lack of support for library ebooks or alternate/legacy ebook formats), why would Amazon start now?
Where's the profit?
(Cue in Cuba Gooding jr.)

[Kali Yuga]

AFAIK there aren't any rumors.

Eink readers are about half their price of a few years ago, and as aforementioned the differences between Kindle versions is not that big. I'm still happy with my K2 a couple of years down the road.

Offhand I don't see why Amazon would have to go through the trouble of making its own Android tablet. If someone wants to read Kindle books on an Android device, they can run the Kindle app. Otherwise, why add to what will soon be a huge pile of Android tablets?

I also suspect that color epaper is at least a year off, possibly two -- and won't be so great when it arrives. As such I expect the K4 will probably be another eInk device with incremental upgrades, and the K5 will be color.

[Sydney's Mom]

I agree with Wallcraft - the next ereader update we are likely to see is to the DX. DX came out with the Pearl display before it was available on the K. Unfortunately, that improvement made my K2 obsolete. (I was sticking with a K1 for a long time after K2 came out).

I am waiting on the edge of my seat for the Thunderbolt (I really need a new phone), but it will take something pretty special to get me to upgrade my K3, and color isn't it.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by austinmitchell

No, I think it's the next logical progression. They now have loveflim in the UK, so why not a device to consume movies?

The progression is not logical if it eliminates the reason people buy it.

[kindlekitten]

there are ALWAYS rumours about the next bigger and better thing. you do yourself no favours sitting around and waiting

Originally Posted by mdmorrissey

I would buy a Kindle tomorrow if it could read library books.

pony up the pennies, it's always been able to read library books

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Exactly.
Amazon is not in the electronics business; they are in the ebook retailing business.
Kindle is a means to an end, not an end unto itself.
Anybody rationally trying to analyze where Amazon takes the Kindle brand needs to consider first, second, and last how the hypothetical change helps sell more ebooks. And, not just any ebooks, but Amazon's bread and butter product: mainstrean recreational reading ebooks.
Most of the criticisms and proposed "improvements" aimed at Kindle aren't about Amazon selling more ebooks but about making the reader more suitable for *other* markets; academic PDFs, content creation, magazines, and (in the case of android tablets) non-reading functions.

The changes that Amazon is more likely to make are those that help sell ebooks by making Kindle provide a better *reading* experience. Going from K2 to K3, Amazon made the reader incrementally thinner, narrower, lighter. They tweaked the ergonomics from tolerable to actually good. And they got a screen that was more readable through higher contrast. And they improved the battery life. All, while dropping the entry price of the product line. The result? A sales rate of a million Kindles a month (more or less).

Higher resolution? A B&W 6in screen running at 167 dpi is fine for reading fiction. The incremental improvement of going to 213 dpi would help graphics, small sized text, maybe ornamental fonts. And how much of those do you find in your typical commercial ebook? What would such a move do to the Kindle's build cost? Increase it? Keep it from going down?

Color? It might help sell more magazines. Comics. Books? Well, color covers would look prettier... And what would it do to battery life (if LCD-based) or text readability/contrast (if eink)?

Touch-screens? Extra cost yes. Extra sales? Not likely. (Ask Sony.)

Video playback? Action games? Arbitrary apps? Tablets are *not* primarily ebook readers though some of us do use them a lot for it (*I* do.). And anything that isn't primarily an ebook reader isn't a Kindle. (As I said above; Kindles exist to sell ebooks.)

At this point we've seen enough of Amazon's evolution of Kindle to get a good idea of what they are likely to do with each of the three members of the family.
The K3 is a mainstream consumer ebook reader. It's all about volume and low cost.
The KDX is a specialty reader/document viewer that will either evolve into a textbook reader or vanish altogether.
The Kindle apps exist to sell ebooks to owners of multifunction devices.

Now, what gaps exist in that strategy?
With Kindle apps out there on every major portable and desktop OS, what *need* does Amazon have to do a Kindle cellphone, webpad, or media player?
None.
They already piggyback on everybody else's hardware.

As I said, K4 is most likely going to look pretty much as K3. Just cheaper.
Kindle has never tried to be all things to all people (hence the lack of support for library ebooks or alternate/legacy ebook formats), why would Amazon start now?
Where's the profit?
(Cue in Cuba Gooding jr.)

Amazon does not just sell Ebooks it also sells media so a tablet makes sense to me. Kindle 3 price will come down but I don't expect kindle 4 till next year when color eink is out.

[CleverClothe]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

Amazon does not just sell Ebooks it also sells media so a tablet makes sense to me. Kindle 3 price will come down but I don't expect kindle 4 till next year when color eink is out.

But there are plenty of devices for viewing movies and listening to music. When the Kindle came out, the market for acceptable ebook reading devices was very limited. And so we see the success of the Kindle and other eink based devices.