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Aug
15
Amazon Kindle Lauded at Qualcomm’s Digital Smart Services Leadership Summit
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From Knowledge@W. P. Carey comes a report that the Amazon Kindle was the “darling of the Smart Services Summit” recently hosted by Qualcomm in San Diego.
First, the article defines “smart services” as a term that “covers the field also know as M2M, which means machine-to-machine communications to some or machine-to-man communications to others.” But wait . . . there’s more: the term “also refers to the customer focus and strategy that transforms technology into a solution.”
Aug
13
Amazon Kindle: The Buzz Goes On
Filed Under Kindle, News, Reader, Readius, e-Ink | Leave a Comment
The media buzz on the Amazon Kindle continues at mid-week, following a Citigroup analyst’s positive estimates of 2008 Kindle sales on Monday.
The Top Stocks Blog over at MSN Money staked out somewhat of a contrarian position. Under the headline, “Amazon’s Kindle unlikely to set world on fire,” the blogger noted that although some think the Kindle will have a first-year sales record comparable to that of the Apple iPod, “[o]thers believe it’s wishful thinking to assume John Grisham will ever be as popular as Jay-Z.”
After noting some features of the Amazon Kindle — ability to download books over the wireless Whispernet network, the glare-free screen and enlargeable screen fonts, the Top Stocks blogger held firm to the notion of print-and-paper books: “Doodling in the corners and turning the pages into a flipbook, alas, can still only be done in regular books.”
Aug
6
The Amazon Kindle ebook reader is Number 9 on the Time.com list of 25 Gotta Have Travel Gadgets.
Amazon’s first-generation e-book reader certainly needs improvement — the page-turn buttons are awkwardly placed, among other things — but anyone who likes to read on the road should consider it an essential companion. That’s because you can take a veritable library with you. The 10.3-ounce device holds around 200 books; infinitely more if you load books onto external SD cards. Better yet is Whispernet, Amazon’s built-in wireless service — it piggybacks on Sprint’s EVDO network — that delivers books on demand in seconds.
The other gadgets on the Time.com “gotta have” list include an assortment of items for travelers, such as a universal adaptor, camera, battery pack, portable DVD player, and video recorder.
Aug
6
eReader.com has announced that the eReader 1.1 release is now available for iPhone and iPod Touch users.
With the release of the 1.1 version of eReader, iPhone and iPod Touch users are not limited to downloading materials from eReader.com and Fictionwise.com. Version 1.1 incorporates the capability to download PDB files from other web sites.
Other new features include the options to lock the screen’s orientation; to tap rather than swipe to turn pages; to select either a white or a black background; to turn off page animation; and to turn off full text justification.
Version 1.1 also provides users with the ability to sort the iPhone or iPod Touch bookshelf by author, title, or date of download.
eReader.com notes that more features will also be added in the pending release of eReader version 1.2.
Watch this demo to learn more about the features of eReader 1.1.
Aug
5
e-News - Flexible Display Newspaper Concept, and Trial Project
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A flexible display newspaper concept from the UK and an e-news trial project in Germany are in the news this week.
From the UK, Electricpig reports on a flexible display concept:
The electronic e-reader concept by Mayo Nissen could be how the national newspapers win back their receding readership in 2015. The day’s news scrolls across the front page and the further you unroll it, the more detail on each headline story is displayed.
The paper and ink publishers have been fighting a losing battle with online newscasters that can update their stories as it happens, but the e-paper could change that.
The forums at MobileRead contain a discussion of a Spiegel report about an e-news trial project by Deutsche Telekom this fall. The forum poster notes that participants in the “News4Me” trial project will be given a dedicated ereading device for receiving personalized news reports.
Aug
5
Phones with e-Ink Display Set for Japan Launch
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TechRadar reports that two phones incorporating e-Ink displays are set for launch in Japan by Hitachi and Casio.
The Hitachi W61H will use the ‘Silhouette’ display when it launches in Japan in a design which mimics that of a perfume bottle (so not hard to work out the demographic they’re going for there.)
The Casio G’zOne range will also use the display to provide easy-to-read information in a smaller outer screen, though won’t be as impressive as the Hitachi model in form.
Aug
4
Kindle Sales Boost eBook Market
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The current generation of the Amazon Kindle is not without flaws, says Ars Technica, but “Kindle’s strong sales have galvanized the eBook market, and Amazon itself is developing a new series of Kindle products.”
The details of the update, however, have yet to be announced, which means we don’t know yet if we’ll see a hardware/software refresh of the existing Kindle, a new “Kindle 2.0″ hardware design, or a new, student-oriented Kindle aimed directly at the textbook market.
Priced properly, Kindle could become an overnight sensation in the education market, even at the current initial price of $359. College textbook prices can easily hit $500 or more in a single semester; a one-time fee for Kindle that lowered total book bills would be the ultimate no-brainer for a gadget-loving college freshman.
Aug
4
An Amazon Kindle - cellphone combo in the future?
Filed Under Kindle, News, e-Book, e-Ink, eReader | Leave a Comment
“Get set–though I don’t know when–for the era of e-reader/cellphone hybrids,” says TeleRead.
It’s difficult to predict who will win among competing display technlogies, the article says.
Who knows which display tech will be dominant? Or whether another company –Sony, or Apple maybe?–might beat Amazon to the marketplace with a full color equivalent of the Kindle blended in with a cellphone. It’s bound to happen, however.
Correctly, while discussing an extra £25 million that the U.K.-based Plastic Logic won in funding from Amadeus Capital Partners and others, PC Pro News noted the Kindle-related possibilities of flexible screens. Flex plastic would not just be more rugged but also lighter and cheaper, and the company says that phones, along with laptops, are another target beyond e-readers alone.
Aug
4
Amazon Kindle and the Textbook Market
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A recent Crunchgear article noted the unit sales and revenue success for the Amazon Kindle (240,000 Kindle units have been sold, says TechCrunch), and suggested that the impact may be end up being particularly strong in the college textbook market.
Students are used to paying outrageous prices for textbooks. Even though the excuse “it’s the high cost of paper” wears thin rather quickly, students will always need texts. I’m sure future generations will hear “it’s the high cost of production” as the excuse for overpriced e-texts, but the fact remains students and texts go hand in hand. Just the simple luxury of not lugging around a heavy library should spark the market.
Jul
28
Growth Foreseen for Amazon Kindle and E-books
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The future holds sontinued growth in sales Amazon Kindle and Kindle-compatible digital books, according to a Bloomberg News article at Seattlepi.com.
By 2010, Amazon may get 3 percent, or $741 million, of its revenue from sales of the paperback-sized reader and digital books, according to Citigroup Inc. analyst Mark Mahaney, a Kindle user. That’s up from this year’s 0.3 percent, or $60 million, he said.
The Web retailer cut the price of the Kindle, which Newsweek magazine called the iPod of books, to $359 from $399 in May. Amazon initially sold out of the white, 7.5-by-5.3-inch reader within 5 1/2 hours of its November release, [Amazon vice president Ian] Freed said.
The article noted that electronic books figure in the plans of publishers Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins.
Kindle users include, the article added, include Martha Stewart, and The Washington Post’s Donald Graham.
Jul
25
Ectaco jetBook Gets Accessorized
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The Ectaco jetBook - it’s not just for lovers of the color Burgundy anymore. PR News Now reports that the jetBook is being made available in a variety of colors, and with additional accessories:
As the release of jetBook has become a market success, Ectaco Inc. presents it in new colors. Now, in addition to the Burgundy edition there will be White, Gray and Graphite jetBooks. The line of jetBook accessories has also been extended by the Earlight (a spot-light device which allows reading in darkness with more comfort for the eyes) and the Silicon Sleeve (a skin-thin transparent dust protection cover). More accessories and colors are on the way . . . .
Jul
25
Amazon Kindle Demonstrates A Viable Market For Ebook Reading Devices
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Ebook devices are drawing worldwide attention. CIOL in India views the sales of these devices as driving demand (and vice versa):
Amazon.com’s Kindle has proven there is a viable market for eBooks with shipments expected to reach 1 million units in 2008, according to iSuppli.
“It’s possible that Amazon’s Kindle could do for eBooks what Apple’s iPod did for MP3 players,” said Vinita Jakhanwal, principal analyst for mobile displays at iSuppli. “Indeed, there are indications that Kindle sales in the first quarter of 2008 surpassed its total sales for the entire year of 2007.” Sales of eBooks will be propelled by demand from key markets, including:
* Education, including textbooks, reading and reference material, electronic dictionaries and organizers,
* Consumer markets, such as novels, magazines, guides and newspapers,
* Professional segments, including trade publications, manuals and product literature, and
* Other areas, such as government documentation, military maps and religious books and material.