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Amazon Releases Kindle Portable Text Reader.

Category: Multimedia

by Anton Shilov

[ 11/19/2007 | 12:32 PM ]

Amazon.com, the world’s largest online store, on Monday introduced its Amazon Kindle portable reader that wirelessly downloads books, blogs, magazines and newspapers. Amazon will then sell various books for its new device, which will bring a new revenue stream for the company.

“We’ve been working on Kindle for more than three years. Our top design objective was for Kindle to disappear in your hands – to get out of the way – so you can enjoy your reading. We also wanted to go beyond the physical book. Kindle is wireless, so whether you’re lying in bed or riding a train, you can think of a book, and have it in less than 60 seconds. We’re excited to make Kindle available today,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and chief executive

Amazon Kindle is a portable device that measures by 7.5” x 5.3” x 0.7” (19.05cm x 13.4cm x 1.77; height x width x thickness), weighs 10.3 ounces (292 grams) and features black and white 6” screen with 600x800 resolution. The device features EV-DO connectivity to download the content everywhere in the USA, however, it is unclear whether users in Europe will get GPRS/EDGE/HSDPA technologies. The amount of memory inside Kindle is unknown, but the device also supports secure digital (SD) cards, which will allow to store considerable amount of content. Battery time is unknown, but considering usage of flash memory and electronic paper screen, it is highly likely that the device can work for a long time.

Kindle customers can wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download or receive new content – all without a PC, Wi-Fi hot spot, or syncing. However, it will be impossible to browse the Internet using the device. The Kindle Store currently offers tens of thousands of books, as well as hundreds of newspapers, magazines and blogs.

More than 90 000 books are now available in the Kindle Store, including 101 of 112 current New York Times best sellers and new releases, which are $9.99, unless marked otherwise. Kindle is available starting today for $399 at Amazon.com.

Amazon Kindle is not the first electronic book reader device on the market, but if it is comfortable to use, reliable, convenient supporting services and affordable, it may gain popularity among users, especially if Amazon Kindle offers access to news-papers and news web-sites. However, for $399 Amazon Kindle will face competition from smartphones and other devices capable of reading books, browsing the web and offer other multimedia features.