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The Third Generation Kindle Reader Is As Popular As Ever
September 11, 2010
Amazon recently announced that, in the four weeks following the release of their newly upgraded Kindle 3, consumers bought more Kindle readers than during the same time period following any earlier Kindle launch. The new Kindle is, not simply in demand, it is the fastest selling Kindle to date. As usual, Amazon did not reveal the exact number of Kindles which were sold, but they did advise that, since the release of the new version of the Kindle, customers have bought more Kindles on Amazon.com and the newly opened Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk combined than any other product.
At the end of July, Amazon announced their new Kindle 3. The latest version packs the same 6″ display into a new slimmed down design which is 21% smaller and 15% lighter. Page turn speed is 20% faster and memory size has been boosted from 2GB to 4GB – sufficient to store 3,500 books. With the Wi-Fi turned off, the battery will now last for a month – even with the Wi-Fi on, a 10 day life is achievable – and the e-ink technology screen has had its contrast improved.
An entry level Wi-Fi only Kindle has been introduced, aimed at customers who don’t see the need for 3G. This is on sale for just $ 139, the 3G plus Wi-Fi model sells for $ 189. Those prices represent huge reductions in comparison with the earlier $ 359 Kindle price tag. It’s a clear sign of how the e-book reader market is developing and maturing.
During the first half of 2010, Amazon sold 3 times as many Kindle books as they did during the same period of 2009. There are now in excess of 670,000 titles available on the Kindle store – not including the 1.8 million free out of copyright books available.
The Kindle continues to be the number one selling product on Amazon’s site. It is also the most gifted and most wished for item on Amazon’s website.com and Amazon.co.uk. With the strong sales figures of the Kindle and the latest technical improvements, it would be easy to overlook the importance of the launch of the UK Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk. The UK store has opened with 400,000 titles available and could increase international Kindle sales. If it is a success – and why wouldn’t it be – it seems reasonable to assume that Amazon might open Kindle stores in Germany, France, Japan – and any other country with its own “local” Amazon website.
Whilst Amazon still faces competition from the Apple iPad this doesn’t seem to concern them too much. For the moment at least, the price differential between the Kindle and the iPad is large enough to make the Kindle the natural choice for most customers who are primarily interested in reading books. As the e-book market matures, much more emphasis will be given to the sale of e-books as opposed to e-book readers. The fact that Kindle book sales are outstripping the sales of Apple’s iBooks by a factor of sixty to one must be very encouraging for Amazon.
Learn more about the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.
Might The Success Of The Kindle Tempt Amazon To Develop More Gadgets?
August 19, 2010
Amazon is enjoying great success with its latest third generation Kindle reader right now. An upgrade – which includes a new display with 50% better contrast, a new smaller and lighter body, quicker page turns and a doubling of memory capacity from 2GB to 4GB – accompanied by a price cut and the introduction of an entry level Wi-Fi only model, has seen demand for the Kindle reader really take off.
At the moment, the third generation Kindles are sold out and potential customers face a wait of three to four weeks before any new ones start shipping. Kindle books are also outselling traditional hardback editions on a regular basis. It seems to be just a matter of time before e-book sales will higher than even paperback sales.
Amazon has also launched a dedicated UK Kindle store so that UK customers no longer need to have their Kindles shipped across the Atlantic and can pay for their Kindle purchases in their local currency. It seems reasonable to assume that similar “local” Kindle stores will be opened for other Amazon international websites such as France, Japan, Germany etc. in the relatively near future.
Currently, everything in the garden is rosy for Amazon. Suggestions that the launch of the Apple iPad would spell the death of the Kindle seem to be, for the moment at least, unfounded. The Amazon policy of releasing free “apps” which allow Kindle books to be read on a wide variety of different devices seems to be paying dividends. So, considering what a massive success they have enjoyed with their first manufactured product, it’s hardly surprising that Amazon is rumored to be considering developing prototypes for personal tech gadgets other than the Kindle in their Lab 126 research facility.
Whilst Amazon has remained silent on the subject, speculation that they may be thinking about music/movie players and possibly some kind of mobile phone is rife. However, industry watchers suggest that, if Amazon wanted to enter the market with another gadget, then they would need to ensure that they add value rather than simply releasing another piece of personal electronic tech onto the market.
A great deal of the success of the Kindle reader must be attributed to Amazon’s strong association with books and reading in general. The massive choice of Kindle books on offer – more than 630,000 and increasing every day – and the fact that these can be read on so many other devices has been a real feather in Amazon’s cap. Any new gadget that Amazon decided to launch would probably need some similar type of support in order to achieve anything approaching the level of success enjoyed by the Kindle.
Check out the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.
Amazon Launches Its Third Generation Kindle Reader
August 18, 2010
It’s been a long time coming – or at least that’s how it feels – but Amazon has finally unveiled its new, upgraded and enhanced Kindle electronic reader. Christened the third generation Kindle by Amazon – but more likely to be known as the Kindle 3 – there are a variety of improvements.
The latest enhancements on display in the Kindle 3 seem likely to appeal to most e-book reader fans. It keeps the same 6″ e-ink technology screen, but the display’s contrast has been improved by 50%, which should make reading even better. The speed of page turns, already good for the Kindle 2.0, has been made 20% quicker.
The overall size of the reader has been shrunk by 21% and the weight is now only 8.7 ozs – a 15% reduction. Battery life is now a month – with the Wi-Fi turned off – and even with the Wi-Fi on, a life of ten days is predicted. Memory has been doubled to 4 GB, enough for approximately 3,500 books. The new Kindle is lighter, smaller, has a better display, a longer battery life and lets users to take a small personal library with them when they are out and about. What more could you want from a mobile reader?
For many, a color screen might have been one item on their wish list. However, whilst Amazon have been working on a color e-ink technology display, it simply isn’t ready for commercial release at this time. Perhaps this might be incorporated in the next Kindle 4 release. There is no SD slot available for memory expansion – a feature which some users may have hoped for. Nevertheless, considering that the memory capacity is now at 4GB, most people won’t suffer too much as a consequence of this.
In addition to the various upgrades, Amazon have adjusted the price downwards and introduced a new Wi-Fi only model for those who don’t anticipate the need for a 3G connection. Just $ 139 will get you the new entry level Wi-Fi only model, with the 3G plus Wi-Fi version on sale at $ 189. The new Kindle 3 now comes in graphite, the same as the new DX model, as well as the original white.
Amazon has also opened a dedicated UK Kindle store on their British website. UK customers will no longer need to get their Kindles shipped from the States. To begin with the UK Kindle store will have 400,000 Kindle books available. It seems reasonable to suppose that Amazon may consider opening other dedicated Kindle stores for its other “local” websites in France, Germany etc. in the future.
Sales of the Kindle 3 are high. Prospective customers face a wait of around about 4 weeks before their readers are shipped at the moment. It does begin to look as if reports of the Kindle’s demise, as a result of the launch of Apple’s iPad, were somewhat premature. The latest upgrades, the reduced prices and the fact that there is no monthly connection charge, will appeal to many potential customers. It looks as though the launch of the third generation Kindle may serve as a timely reminder of just how influential Amazon are, and will continue to be, in the world of e-books and digital publishing in general.
Learn more about the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.
Behind The Technology Of The Amazon Kindle
February 15, 2010
There are plenty of reviews on Amazon’s Kindle reader available right now. It’s way ahead of the other e-book readers available right now, and is very much the “must have” gadget of the moment. Most reviews concentrate on the Kindle’s technical aspects, which is quite understandable. It’s a piece of high tech personal electronics after all. Even so, a brief look at the actual user experience with the Kindle might not be a bad idea.
First of all, a very quick look at the spec. The Kindle 2.0 has a ticket price of $ 259. It’s approximately the size of the average paperback and about as thick as a glossy magazine. It weighs a little over 10 ounces and has enough memory to store approximately 1500 books. One of its key features is its e-ink technology display. This produces less eye strain than reading on a PC screen – and has a much lower power requirement.
My first impression, when I got my Kindle a few weeks ago, was that the button positioning wasn’t right. There are two buttons on the left hand side – “prev page” and “next page”. There are a further two buttons on the right hand side – “home” and “next page” (again). At first I thought that one of the “next page” buttons was redundant. I thought that the left hand one wasn’t required.
However, after using the Kindle reader for just a few minutes, it made perfect sense. Sitting propped up in bed, on a crowded bus, in the metro or drinking coffee in Starbucks, it’s ideal. You can easily hold the Kindle in one hand and leaf through the pages, forwards or back, using your thumb. As a matter of fact, it’s much easier to use than a real book.
Before I bought my Kindle, I had tried a display model e-book reader in my local bookstore. I must confess, I didn’t really like the way the page refreshed. Once again, after using the Kindle for just a few minutes, I didn’t even notice this anymore. It’s exactly like flipping the page in a “normal” paper book for me now.
When it comes to the actual reading experience itself, the e-ink display is fantastic. The background is a light grey instead of the traditional white or cream of paper – but you get used to this very quickly. Compared to reading on a back-lit PC monitor, it produces a lot less eye strain. All I can say is that, whenever I’m reading a good book on the Kindle, I’m totally oblivious to the fact that I’m using it rather than reading a conventional book.
The low power requirement of the e-ink display is another big bonus. Although I read a fair amount of books, I find that the Kindle will usually go for around three weeks between charges – that’s with the wireless turned off. I usually turn the wireless connection on only when I’m buying books – which is a very simple process. In fact, it might be just a little too easy – I am very definitely guilty of a few impulse buys. According to Amazon’s official product description, books will download in less than a minute. From my own experience I would say that it’s way less than this. Of course, this isn’t a big deal really – but think about how annoying it can be when you PC takes an extra thirty seconds or so to boot up one day and you’ll get the point. It’s just another positive aspect to the overall user experience.
Just to try to give you some idea of what a pleasurable experience reading on the Kindle is, a few days ago I got an e-mail from Amazon to tell me that my order had shipped. I went to check it out as I knew that I hadn’t ordered anything. I found that it was a book by a favourite author of mine which I had pre-ordered some weeks ago and then forgotten about. Frankly, the thought of going back to manhandling a heavy book – even one written by one of my favourite authors – was less than appealing. Holding a book in my left hand and turning pages with my right seems like something out of the stone age to me now.
Find out more about the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.
Do Copyright Laws Need Updating To Cope With Ebooks?
January 5, 2010
A court in Paris has found internet search giant Google to be in breach of French copyright law. La Martiniere, a French publisher, has been awarded 300,000 Euros (approximately $ 430,000) in damages and interest. Google must also pay 10,000 Euros ($ 14,000) each day until the book extracts are removed from its database. The French Publishers’ Association, La Martiniere and an author’s group initiated the action and had requested that Google be fined 15m Euros ($ 21m).
Google won’t be too concerned about the size of the settlement – but the ruling may have a bearing on Google’s project to scan as much of the world’s books as possible and to make these available online. At the moment, Google is in the process of scanning as many books as it can. Books no longer covered by copyright law are made available in their entirety. Others covered by copyright may either have small sections made available online or have the entire book made available under an agreed licensing scheme.
It’s hardly the first time Google has found itself in hot water regarding their ambitious plan to become the world’s digital librarian. A class action was filed against Google Books by the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers and a number of individual authors and publishers in 2001. Google had, they alleged, breached copyright laws by scanning books from university libraries without getting permission from the copyright owners in some cases.
At the time, Google claimed that it was operating under the “fair use” principle as only short snippets of books scanned without the permission of copyright holders were made available.
In October of 2008 a deal was struck with Google establishing a $ 125 million fund to compensate authors whose works were made available online. However, the deal was applicable in North America only and raised problems with books which, whilst perhaps out of copyright in the USA, were still under copyright law in other parts of the world.
As well as opposition from Europe, including both the German and French governments, Google faces competition from Yahoo, Microsoft and Amazon – who all support the “Open Book Alliance” run by the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive is a non-profit organisation which is also in the business of scanning and digitising books. Over half a million books have been scanned and stored by the Internet Archive to date, all of which are available free online. The founder of the Internet Archive, Brewster Kahle, is concerned that Google is attempting to monopolise the library system.
Google, quite reasonably, asserts that their Google Books project will make millions of books which are currently out of print available to readers worldwide. It’s also noteworthy that out of copyright books are available to Amazon Kindle reader users direct from Amazon’s website and that there are numerous other websites where free books can be found online, without any copyright infringement. Our reading habits, along with publishing methods, will change to take advantage of the internet and digital storage media. However, in order for this to be truly successful, a legal framework to protect the interests of copyright holders and authors will require to be put in place.
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Are Free Ebooks The Way Ahead?
January 3, 2010
Internet search giant Google has been found guilty of copyright infringement by a court in Paris. French publisher, La Martiniere, was awarded 300,000 Euros ($ 430,000) in damages and interest. Google was also ordered to pay the sum of 10,000 Euros ($ 14,000) each day until it withdraws the book extracts from its database. The court hearing was initiated by the French Publishers’ Association, La Martiniere and SGDL – an author’s group – who demanded that Google be forced to pay 15m Euros ($ 21m).
The size of the final settlement is not important for Google. However, the ruling may impact upon Google’s plans to scan, and make available online, as much of the world’s literature as it can. Google is currently in the process of scanning and storing as many books as possible. Books which are out of copyright are made available in their entirety, books still covered by copyright either have “snippets” made available or have the whole book made available under a previously agreed licensing scheme.
It’s hardly the first time Google has found itself in hot water regarding their ambitious plan to become the world’s digital librarian. A class action was filed against Google Books by the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers and a number of individual authors and publishers in 2001. Google had, they alleged, breached copyright laws by scanning books from university libraries without getting permission from the copyright owners in some cases.
Google claimed that it was complying with the principle of “fair use” as books which were scanned without the copyright holder’s permission had only short snippets made available.
A deal was agreed in October of 2008. Google established a fund of $ 125m to compensate authors whose work was made available online. However, the deal was only applicable in North America and there were still problems with books which, whilst perhaps out of copyright in the U. S., were still covered by copyright law in other countries.
Over and above opposition from Europe, including the governments of both France and Germany, Google now faces competition from Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo, all of whom are now supporting the “Open Book Alliance” operated by the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive – a non-profit based organisation – is also involved in the scanning of books. Up to now, they have scanned more than half a million books. Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, has expressed his concern that Google may be attempting to monopolise the library system.
Google has argued that their system will make millions of out of print books, which would otherwise be inaccessible to most readers, available. Users of the Amazon Kindle can also access out of copyright ebooks via Amazon’s Kindle store and there are a number of other projects which make certain books available at no charge online. It does seem likely that our reading habits will change and the method of both book storage and delivery will be updated for the digital age. However, before that can happen it may be necessary to ensure that the legal framework is in place and that authors and other copyright holders are not disadvantaged.
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