Amazon gets ready for second-generation Kindle – USATODAY.com.
Stand by for an announcement in early February.
I took some guff yesterday for remaining a Kindle fan. Then I read this Frost & Sullivan report on consumer electronic in the “economic winter” and this jumped out at me:
“The Amazon Kindle, a wireless reading device was the number one selling item. Due to heavy customer demand, Kindle is currently sold out. There is hope for eBook readers (see Inside Mobile, Sept. 8, 2008)”
My compatriot’s beef against the Kindle (other than its semi-plastic crappy design) is its uselessness during takeoff and landing. Hey, I want to crash as much as the guy in the next seat, so I make sure the Whispernet radio is turned off so the pilots’ won’t start reading Grisham on their instruments during the foggy approach. In four months of frequent flying I have yet once to get told by a maurading flight attendant to turn off the book. Secret is keep it in its leather moleskine-ish cover and act like it is a book and not let the attendant get a good look at it.
Still, with a new model on the way (which I will not buy as I have a year or more before I amortize the hardware cost of V1 through e-book discounts (which generally are 40% off the paper version), I’d say Amazon has finally staked out, with eInk, the elusive electric book. And for that I am glad. Now if they would open up the platform and let other device manufacturers sic their best human factors engineers on the task, we might end with some truly ergonomic advances in reading technology.
ergonomic advances in reading technology.
is spit on a finger too plebian a reading interface advance?
I love my v1 Kindle that fits in my purse and don’t plan to upgrade until this one is out of warranty and dies. I’m used to the page-forward and back button placement, and my brain automatically adjusts page-turning to account for the slight flash. I don’t even notice it any more unless I read someone complaining about it. The only thing it lacks is folders so that I can organize the 17 pages of books, word docs, and pdf files. Hopefully, we’ll get a software upgrade that will add that feature.
I am excited about the rumored upcoming new model, though, since it encourages me to believe that Amazon is committed to the device.
I didn’t get Kindle until I actually had one in hand and played around with it. Now I just need to shake four hundy out of my couch cushions. 🙂