Monday, November 19, 2007

Amazon.com: Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device: Kindle Store

The Kindle product page is up -- from the product overview therein: 

  • Revolutionary electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper.
  • Simple to use: no computer, no cables, no syncing.
  • Wireless connectivity enables you to shop the Kindle Store directly from your Kindle—whether you’re in the back of a taxi, at the airport, or in bed.
  • Buy a book and it is auto-delivered wirelessly in less than one minute.
  • More than 88,000 books available, including 100 of 112 current New York Times® Best Sellers.
  • New York Times® Best Sellers and all New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise.
  • Free book samples. Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.
  • Top U.S. newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post; top magazines including TIME, Atlantic Monthly, and Forbes—all auto-delivered wirelessly.
  • Top international newspapers from France, Germany, and Ireland; Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine, and The Irish Times.
  • More than 250 top blogs from the worlds of business, technology, sports, entertainment, and politics, including BoingBoing, Slashdot, TechCrunch, ESPN's Bill Simmons, The Onion, Michelle Malkin, and The Huffington Post.
  • Lighter and thinner than a typical paperback; weighs only 10.3 ounces.
  • Holds over 200 titles.
  • Long battery life. Leave wireless on and recharge approximately every other day. Turn wireless off and read for a week or more before recharging. Fully recharges in 2 hours.
  • Unlike WiFi, Kindle utilizes the same high-speed data network (EVDO) as advanced cell phones—so you never have to locate a hotspot.
  • No monthly wireless bills, service plans, or commitments—we take care of the wireless delivery so you can simply click, buy, and read.
  • Includes free wireless access to the planet's most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopedia—Wikipedia.org.
  • Email your Word documents and pictures (.JPG, .GIF, .BMP, .PNG) to Kindle for easy on-the-go viewing.
  • See the product page for more details and some intriguing videos.

    A few quick impressions:

    • $9.99 for NYT best-sellers and many new releases -- compelling
    • No monthly wireless fee (I look forward to seeing details on how Amazon.com pulled that off...)
    • Everything backed-up on-line
    • Free Wikipedia access -- very cool
    • Nice in-context features, such as dictionary look-ups
    • Magazines and blogs/feeds can be downloaded,  but they're fee-based
    • Another fee-based service ($.10): you can email Office files to your Kindle account; Amazon transforms and makes the content available (for reading only, I assume)

    I suspect Kindle will be a very successful product, if the service is robust and reliable.  I also hope Amazon.com will be aggressive with school systems; a Kindle-like model would be much more effective than having kids lug around 30 pounds of books every day...

    Amazon.com: Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device: Kindle Store

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