It looks like the Kindle really might be the iPod for the book industry. Last October Oprah gave the e-reader a huge push from her book club, ensuring that it would be almost completely sold out during the Holiday Season. In the wake of the Oprah aftermath we’re still finding it hard to get a Kindle, with six to eight weeks wait for shipping still the norm.
This is a huge deal in the sagging publishing industry, which took a brutal beating in October of 2008. The fact that the Kindle sold out in such a dire market for books shows us that the future of publishing is electronic, and that e-paper technologies will be the backbone to this brave new world.
Traditional book publishers aren’t the only ones in trouble, either. Newspapers have been struggling with the digital transition for a few years, and are taking a huge hit in readership. The Kindle already supports subscribing to magazines and newspapers, directly from Amazon’s website.
In the midst of all this are rumors of the next generation of the Kindle. Amazon president Jeff Bezos promised a tentative release for Version 2.0 in the first quarter of 2009, but so far has not yet made a solid promise on when we can expect one. Screenshots and rumors of the new e-reader have been circulating online for several months now, but so far nobody from Amazon has said anything, either way.
What the Future Holds
Several photos of the new Kindle were leaked onto the internet in October, as well as a review from an unknown “ninja” on The Boy Genius Report website. This new version fixes a lot of the complaints people have had with the old Kindle and gave it a greatly improved interface. You’ll no longer have to worry about accidentally flipping a page again, but the newly added joystick might take a bit to get used to.
The new design was done by Frog Design, and it does a good job of creating an iPod style aesthetic, improving greatly over the original layout and functionality. Another huge benefit is the new USB charger for the Kindle’s battery, so you’ll no longer need to lug around a large and bulky adapter.
As far as display size is concerned, the new Kindle has exactly the same size as its predecessor. The display still doesn’t contain any lighting of any sort, and this will put it as a disadvantage, since most of the next generation epaper readers all have this functionality, although we can always expect a bunch of peripherals to quickly fill this vacuum.
The Competition
The Kindle isn’t the only e-reader coming out with a brand spanking new model. There is a large array of competitors launching all sorts of new devices, each clamoring to take the throne as best e-reader on the market. For example, Sony released its new PRS-700 last October, armed to the teeth with a slew of new features and a heftier price tag. One of the hardest things to compete with will be the touchscreen capabilities and the built in LED light. The Kindle has neither of these.
And then there is Cambridge-based Plastic Logic’s new e-reader, aimed specifically at the newspaper market. Even thought Amazon already supports both magazines and newspapers, the Plastic Logic device is more flexible and much more sturdy.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Should you wait for the new Kindle? Should you buy the current model? Or should you just go down a different path and pay tribute to the competition? If you buy a first generation Kindle you’ll be in for a long wait. But then again, the 2.0 model’s release date still isn’t very solid.
Either way you slice it, Amazon’s Kindle just might be the future of the publishing industry. It’s simple to buy books and subscribe to magazines and newspapers using your Kindle, and you have a vast library on Amazon’s website to choose from. While the rest of the publishing industry took some big hits last October, November and December, both e-books and the Kindle saw a large spike in sales. In fact Random House has said that their e-book sales have gone up over 400% in the past year. And that’s not a number to scoff at.
amazon, e-ink, e-reader, kindle
sorry, I don’t like how this one looks.
I find that the Kindle is very easy to use. My unit runs for 4 days, and I’m a voracious reader!
One of the best things about Kindle is that you can read it under any light. I wonder what improvements were woven into this new version