Amazon’s Kindle - finally the eBook revolution?
Amazon released their digital book reader today, Kindle. It’s an ebook reader built using the same eInk technology found in Sony’s eReader - and also sports SD memory slot, EV-DO data access, and a keyboard.
I, like many others, have wanted the ubiquitousness of digital books in the same way that the iPod ‘revolutionized’ the music industry and made it easy and common to carry your entire audio collection in your pocket. Digital books aren’t new, I’ve read entire series of books on my old iPaq using Microsoft’s Digital Library and really enjoyed the experience.
It seems rather humorous that Amazon named a “book replacement” after something you burn. Are they implying a Fahrenheit 451 future? To its credit, Amazon used Neal Stephenson’s “Diamond Age” in the initial screenshots of Kindle - implying a utopic vision of digital literature access.
Another funny comment was the beginning of Amazon press release:
“Why are books the last bastion of analog?” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos asked an audience at New York’s W Hotel in Union Square as he unveiled Amazon Kindle, the online-retail giant’s new electronic book reader.
Probably because so far, book publishers have felt justified charging full, hardback pricing for what is an entirely ephemeral medium. Why should anyone want to pay $20 for a digital book? Apple was one of the first to identify, and more importantly strong-arm the labels, into the pricing sweet-point of $0.99 for a song. Cheap enough for consumers to find it a better value than scouring music sharing applications and services.
Books are priced at $9.99, still more expensive than a mass-market book, but perhaps an expected pricing, commensurate with the price of an audio Album. Newspapers are about $9.99 / month, and magazines a reasonable $1.99 / month. However the licensing isn’t clear (can I resell my digital books when I’ve finished them?) iTunes tracks aren’t, so I would assume books aren’t either.
The demo video says Kindle has access to “hundreds of blogs”. Aren’t there actually millions of blogs? Assumedly they are only providing access to a select number of blogs with quality content. Also surprising is that you have to pay a monthly fee of approximately $1.99 each (some more, some less) to access these blogs. Are they sharing that revenue back to the blog owners?
It does have built-in access to Wikipedia. But will I be able to add access to my own portals, perhaps via an API? You can send PRC, Mobi, Word or Text documents, but what about PDF’s? Also, there is a small fee, 10¢, for “converting” these documents.
A couple of really additional good looking things about the Kindle. The screen refresh looks quicker than the first generation Sony eReader. The wireless EV-DO access if free, assumedly covered as a percentage of your purchases, but you don’t have to directly pay for it.
Overall, Amazon’s Kindle does look rather compelling. Wireless access is especially powerful for accessing online information and easily downloading information from wherever you are. Perhaps a death-toll to Airport book stores? The price of books is probably reasonable and cheaper than the physical version.
Surprisingly, Amazon didn’t play up the environmental benefits of buying digital books instead of large amounts of paper and glossy magazines or newspapers. This could have a huge impact on consumer paper usage and waste and should probably get some more attention. Of course, it does mean “yet another device” to add to your bag.
My name is 
November 19th, 2007 at 4:20 pm (#)
I think it’s all about form factor, and the standard size and shape of the traditional book is pleasing. The book evolved to its present shape and form because it works well with the size of our hands, has a page width our brains comfortably scan, and a range of text size that suits our eyes when the book is comfortably readable in a resting-armed position, etc. On the other hand, books have some serious drawbacks that have always bothered me, ever since I was a kid. You have to wrestle them to keep them open, sometimes cramping your thumbs…or you have to practically break the binding of them to get them to lay fairly flat in your hands so you can read all the way to the inside of a page. They age, yellow, get musty, store poorly, take up amazing amounts of space if you have a lot of them, and weigh a ton if you have to tote them around. Their covers wear, their bindings fail, and their pages wrinkle. You can stop to scratch your nose, accidentally close your book, and lose your place. Some books are printed with squintingly-small text, which gets annoying as you hit your middle-ages. Books also have the unfortunate quality of being fairly linear and difficult to search. How many times have I read something in a book and later wanted to refer to it, or tell someone about it, and spent ages trying to find the passage again.
I think the form factor and features of Kindle and some of the other book readers that have come out of late seems just about right. I can imagine snuggling up in a chair and reading from one, just like I would a book. It’s the right physical dimensions and page size (I have difficulty picturing myself curling up with a nice PDA), can adjust its text to my eyesight, holds a whole library of books in a 10 ounce package, is just as clear to view outdoors on the patio as it is in the den, will undoubtedly remember what page I’m on if I get distracted, will let me mark my place without having to use a comb or whatever’s within reach, and will let me skip around in it rapidly, leaping to chapters rather than flipping and thumbing a lot..
While I haven’t learned all the features of Kindle yet, I have to assume that if it can search Wikipedia, it may also be able to search its own contents, meaning the reader should be able to rapidly find something he/she read earlier. That’s a real plus.
To me, the larger question isn’t whether this type of device is valuable; it is to me, definitely. I’ve wanted a paper book substitute for a long time. It’s whether Kindle is the right one. Amazon is playing Apple here. It wants to lock readers into a format and force them to buy their books and publications through them. They’re so protective of their book reading format that you can’t even read a PDF unless you first submit it to them for proprietary conversion to Kindle format. If I’m going to spend that sort of money on an e-book reader, I want it to be universally useful. There’s something a little insulting to be about being told, we’re going to sell you this at a premium price, and then charge you for the privilege of only being able to get your content for it by purchasing it from us.
November 19th, 2007 at 6:32 pm (#)
@Dane. Agreed with many points but the humble book has one major advantage - it doesn’t need batteries!
If this device was ruggedized/waterproofed and could display pdfs without a hassle then I would buy at this price. The form factor and long battery life means it is ideal for viewing cad drawings (maps?) in the field - something I have been searching for.
November 19th, 2007 at 7:05 pm (#)
To “kindle” is to inspire. “Kindling” is what you use to start a fire.
November 19th, 2007 at 8:13 pm (#)
[...] geospatial community has blogged about Kindle (like High Earth Orbit, Henri Bergius and Peter Batty and [...]
November 20th, 2007 at 3:28 am (#)
Andrew,
Let me know when “Introduction to Neogeography” and/or your blog becomes available via the Kindle Store.
Hint:
Upload it here if you can:
http://dtp.amazon.com/