Amazon to launch Kindle e-book reader on Monday?

At this point we've heard so many predicted launch dates for Amazon's Kindle ebook reader we're a little jaded about the whole thing, but CNET is reporting that their always-reliable "industry sources" have confirmed a Monday launch for the device and service. The specs will apparently remain consistent with what we've been hearing for so long now -- $399, 6-inch screen, no integrated backlight, WiFi, EV-DO on Sprint for OTA book purchases, and a big ol' dose of the ugly -- but rumors are rumors, so don't get too mopey if Monday comes and goes with no announcement.

[Thanks, Brian]

[Chris @ Nov 16th 2007 9:37AM]

$399? I'll take a PS3 or a 360 instead.

Paper books are workin' just fine.

[superfresh @ Nov 16th 2007 1:26PM]

My kids already got me one of these lame-ass executive calendars with the built in calculator last Chri... oh wait, what is this thing?

[Rudiger @ Nov 16th 2007 9:56AM]

I wouldn't worry about that... picture... I'm sure the actual device (if it is, indeed, launching) will look and function much better than that... prototype...

[Josh Warner @ Nov 16th 2007 1:31PM]

Amazon should realize by now that the cat is well out of the bag, and at least provide press release shots of the device. By doing nothing, and letting that photo propagate on well-read sites, they are going a long way toward hurting the public opinion of this device.

Bezos, we all know you're releasing this. At least put out a vague, buzzword-laden release with some acceptable pictures for damage control.

[Jagannath A @ Nov 16th 2007 10:19AM]

now where is that hammer :\

[Bad Beaver @ Nov 16th 2007 10:22AM]

Now Soviet design clearly had some higher points than that... and at that price, I would rather spend a little more and get the illiad iRex. At least that has a touchscreen.

[John Stracke @ Nov 16th 2007 1:01PM]

A little more? The iRex is $700 instead of $400. For the price of an iRex, you could buy a Kindle and a Sony.

[nathan.wong @ Nov 16th 2007 11:59AM]

Too 'spensive, too ugly and too big.

[thesb @ Nov 16th 2007 12:22PM]

No backlight? Great.

Why would anyone think for a moment that not being able to see the display in a dark car/plane/bus/bedroom/whatever would be ok?

[Hinten @ Nov 16th 2007 12:41PM]

Yes, backlight, just like all my paper based books have...

[Wwhat @ Nov 16th 2007 4:56PM]

With e-paper the no-backlight is the feature, fool
It's suppose to be sharp and readable and needs no power while displaying.

[UnnDunn @ Nov 16th 2007 12:41PM]

I use Mobipocket. It works with every major mobile platform except Apple (ie. it works with Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian and Blackberry devices, as well as quite a few cellphones), the software is super easy to use, the books are cheap (many books for $3.99) and they let you re-download books at any time.

Plus, the software has built-in links to several other stores that sell compatible files, so you aren't stuck with just Mobipocket themselves.

And if you already own a mobile device, that means you don't have to go out and purchase this thing. Though if the Kindle does wind up supporting Mobipocket, it may be the best eBook device to read on.

[Cycledoc @ Nov 16th 2007 12:59PM]

$399 and then you get to pay the full retail price for the actual book material with all the DRM restrictions and limits--what a privilege.

When these ebooks are priced under $50 I'll consider them.

[John P @ Nov 16th 2007 1:52PM]

Can someone explain to me how these companies can charge $400 on a piece of hardware that is monochrome, has no backlight, doesnt even ship with much flash memory, and has no other functionality other than text reading? I would absolutely love to have a Sony e-reader, but what's the point? Perhaps I'm missing something, but it doesnt make that much sense to me.

[Wwhat @ Nov 16th 2007 4:58PM]

It uses no power during display and is suppose to not tire the eyes, imagine a batterylife of months rather than an hour.
And it's just for reading, and can store tons of books in a small space (compared to tons of books)

[crow610 @ Nov 16th 2007 4:02PM]

Will it blend?

[Asymmetric @ Nov 16th 2007 4:15PM]

$399 you must be joking. I can buy a laptop for that. Maybe if they gave it away with an e-book subscription I'd consider it.

[GregH @ Nov 16th 2007 5:26PM]

Here's the electronic reader I want: an iPhone-like device with a paperback book-sized display, multi-touch interface (imagine "flipping" pages with your finger) and printed books, magazines and newspapers available over iTunes.

[Sarasin Booppanon @ Nov 16th 2007 5:29PM]

Consider buying a book digitzer from our company to convert printed books into PDFs and dump those files into a device like this.

Remember. 97% of the songs in iPods are user-generated MP3s, not the songs from the iTunes store.
The same thing with the ebooks is going to repeat. 97% of the content that will drive the sales of these ebook readers is not going to come from the online ebook stores but from the ability by average users around the world to be able to create their own ebooks to fill the devices.

http://www.booksnap.atiz.com

[Dave Cramer @ Nov 18th 2007 12:06PM]

Don't forget that Amazon owns Mobipocket...

[sam @ Nov 18th 2007 5:55PM]

This some how reminds me of those Palm guys who "craeted" that new catgory device Folio.

Well, they are the same gang after all, but the bottom line this device is of very little value propositions to customers. Why another stupid looking device, in addition to what i have - a nice iMac and an iPhone both of which have WiFi support? Why not just install a client software on iMac or iPhone to do that same thing? Why bother to pay $399?

Wake up, Amazon or Palm guys! Simple market research can avoid this failure from the beginning.

[sam @ Nov 19th 2007 2:01PM]

x x

[Paul @ Nov 24th 2007 7:43AM]

This is great news!
At http://www.kindle-e-book-reader.com/ I will try to gather the latest buzz and also add ebook reviews as soon as this nice toy is available!

Hopefully the Kindle will also be able to read all those PDF files that are flying around the internet. Especially in research there are tons of publications available as PDF files. This would really help to have one device where you can easily read them.