Amazon Kindle gets official

Although the article doesn't contain much more information about the Amazon Kindle that we hadn't seen before, Newsweek's cover story on the device is the first official confirmation that the device exists. Featuring an interview with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the article lays down the feature set -- $399, 6-inch E-ink screen, no backlight, EV-DO "Whispernet" on Sprint for over the air book purchases -- and the company's vision for digital books replacing "the last bastion of analog." Books will go for $9.99, and users can even subscribe to newspapers and "select blogs" for monthly fees. Also news is that the Kindle gets 30 hours of battery life, and can fully recharge in only two. One thing's for sure, this is looking way more compelling a package than previous attempts at the eBook idea.

[Thanks, Alex]

[nate @ Nov 18th 2007 5:03PM]

What's this about listing battery life in hours? The beauty of e-ink is supposed to be that it's measured regardless of time and only uses power during refreshes (in this case, page turns)

[blinkcowz182 @ Nov 18th 2007 5:06PM]

It is probably that integrated ev-do card that checks for updates to blogs,
checks your email, etc that kills the battery. Still, 30 hours is
pretty good.

[jamma @ Nov 18th 2007 5:29PM]

yeah 30 hours is enough to read...one reasonably large book at a time. When it runs out, you then got home and charge it.

Alternatively, you could buy a paper book, read it, take it home when it's finished and buy another, without paying the extra $400.

Unlike music, which is listened to repeatedly by people several times, books are read once or twice, left for ages, and read again when bored.

Books also take lot longer to finish than, say ,an album for example, and thus you do not need to be carry more than one at any given time.

I really therefore cannot see the advantage of this, especially since it really isn't more portable than a book, is more fragile, and costs $400, before buying any books for it!!


someone help me understand the point please..

[max andrews @ Nov 18th 2007 6:19PM]

Well if they're smart about it they'd have two power units, one for the display and one for the EVDO stuff, so when the evdo drains the battery you can at least still read your existing books for days/weeks on end. If they allow the evdo drain the full battery rendering the device useless in 30 hours, it's a POS.

[Drew @ Nov 18th 2007 6:34PM]

Jamma hit the nail on the head. I can't possibly see how this can work. It's hard to justify spending that kind of money for something like that.

[Reader @ Nov 18th 2007 7:18PM]

Jamma, I agree with you on all points. This is probably just an attempt to get into the market first. Some day reading books like this will be more common than paper, no doubt in my mind about that. Possibly in 10 years when this thing costs 20 bucks I'll get one.

[zabador @ Nov 18th 2007 8:52PM]

@Jamma
If it were possible to get college textbooks on this thing that could be a rather interesting neiche this would be appropriate for, even at that price tag -

this semester alone i spent $700 on text books - not to mention they are heavy as hell to carry around campus so if i could have spent $400 on that and just bought each text for $30or w/e they'd charge (because lets face it, even an e-textbook is going to be sadly over priced) over the course of a single semester let alone a 3 year program the savings could rack up really quickly

[nate @ Nov 18th 2007 9:07PM]

College textbooks is an interesting idea, but it seems like it'd be hard to replace the physical aspect of thumbing through pages to review or look for a particular thing. Then again, while typing this, it occured to me that a built-in search function could be even better than just thumbing through. Interesting idea.

[Nipponese @ Nov 18th 2007 11:28PM]

Jamma, I believe the biggest advantage to this kind of product is the distribution system. You can purchase a book on the whim online and after uploading the content to your reader, immediately start reading on your reading couch. There are also many free books you can obtain online (legally) and read them on this reader. I have been reading downloaded books on my laptop but this sure beats the cumbersome experience of that.

[Jkswiss @ Nov 19th 2007 4:39AM]

I have the Sony PRS505, which, btw, looks a whole lot better than this monstrosity. Guttenberg press makes it well worth the price, as I can curl up in bed and read it just like a book. It looks just like what words look like on an inexpensive paperback novel(the background isn't that white, kinda dingy). Ebooks failed on notebooks and desktops because it hurts the eyes and who wants to curl up with a laptop or sit at a desk to read a book? Not so with these.

Hundreds and thousands of free books. Not to mention, if your so inclined, you can get more modern releases off of various sites.

[Wwhat @ Nov 19th 2007 8:04AM]

30 hours is ridiculous for an epaper device, it should be at the very least be 300 hours.

[nate @ Nov 19th 2007 6:18PM]

Yea, so, I just heard on NPR that there's an easy switch on the back for EV-DO, so that should help some, they said you should get "weeks" without it on, which is still time (doh!) but better than 30 hours ;)

[Hernan Paredes @ Nov 18th 2007 5:05PM]

10 dollars...i wonder what the markup is on those sales....corporations will never learn. publishers, labels...

[chay @ Nov 18th 2007 5:06PM]

Buck Rogers called; he wants his book back.

Oh dear god, is it really going to look like this?

[Cash @ Nov 18th 2007 7:29PM]

The best attempt so far? You're joking, right? It's effin' huge, ugly, and expensive! Let's do the math here.... I can purchase most paperback novels for anywhere between 5.99-8.99 these days, but Amazon wants 9.99 for the thing in an electronic format. That's like charging more then full price for a normal book, then saying you have to have this special 400 dollar dust jacket first to even read the damn thing. Yeah that makes all kinds of business sense. Oh... I can read the newspaper on it too? Guess what, I can already do that for free from my desktop, laptop, or cell phone if I'm out an about.

Cut the price in half, lose the ridiculous looking keypad and replace it with a decent touch interface like most other handheld products are using these days, and we'll talk. Until then, a lot of us are going to have a nice laugh at your expense Mr. Bezos.

[Urza9814 @ Nov 18th 2007 10:04PM]

Cash: Where are you shopping? Please let me know. Cost me $90 the other day for 4 books. None of them over 200 pages, all paperback. $9.99 would be amazing.

[Bob Sintas @ Nov 18th 2007 10:47PM]

Cash,

The $9.99 is for new releases and best sellers. The article mentions that he purchased a particular book that was $1.99

[Jere @ Nov 18th 2007 11:08PM]

urza: You were ripped off.

[atomicthumbs @ Nov 19th 2007 12:43AM]

Cash: I can get them for free on BitTorrent.

Of course, most of the authors whose books I read are dead.

[p-diddy @ Nov 19th 2007 1:05AM]

>> Of course, most of the authors whose books I read are dead.

You do know that current copyright law gives the author/assignee of the author's rights control over the copyright to life of the author + 70 years, right? While not an issue for Shakespearean works, etc. which are all in the public domain, it is a very real issue for just torrent-ing Hemingway and other modern classics.

-p-

[Wwhat @ Nov 19th 2007 8:32AM]

Those copyright laws differ per region/country.

[Jin @ Nov 18th 2007 5:33PM]

This is NOT going to catch on. Everyone who reads loves having them in paperback(or hardcover) form. And books are definitely not dead.

[Truegod @ Nov 18th 2007 6:05PM]

O.o "Everyone who reads loves having them in paperback(or hardcover) form." I read and I would much rather have something like this (although I'm not digging the kindle). Unless you actually go and ask everyone what their opinion is, you probably shouldn't make such statements.

[Jin @ Nov 18th 2007 10:38PM]

Obviously. "everyone" was an exaggeration of "most". The thing is that we've all seen electronic book mediums appear in a variety of forms but none of them have really taken off. And the kindle, especially with its price and design, don't seem to be any closer to the idea. I could be wrong though. There are no absolutes after all.

[danny76 @ Nov 19th 2007 1:37AM]

I love to read books and I've been reading from my PDAs for years now (I have nokia N800 now). When this device gets to the right price point (less than $200 for me) I will definitely buy it. I feel awkward when I read a paper book now - just imagine that to get a translation or a definition of a word I need to put it aside and get to my computer - instead of simply clicking on a word :)

[Alan Partridge @ Nov 18th 2007 5:10PM]

Do you have to pay for EVDO usage? If so how much?

Also $19 for a digital book is too much

[Truegod @ Nov 18th 2007 6:00PM]

Unless I'm missing something, it's $9.99.

[m @ Nov 18th 2007 5:18PM]

somebody tell me about THESE features:

drm?
backups?
printing?
usb connection?

replace the book, my ass. replace the pulp fiction paperback, possibly, but books are far too important in too many fields, not least of all education and academia, for this greedy, half-baked scheme.

[z1g1 @ Nov 18th 2007 5:47PM]

"replace the book, my ass. replace the pulp fiction paperback, possibly, but books are far too important in too many fields, not least of all education and academia, for this greedy, half-baked scheme."

Books in education are the real scam! If I could get one $399 body freshman year and fill it for only $100 a semester and then only have to carry one thing to class I would go for it in a heart beat. Kids if you want to be a US History/Poly Sci major you'd better love books

[zfurie @ Nov 18th 2007 6:40PM]

This thing would be way cooler if it has a multi-touch interface.

A sensitive bar at the bottom on the screen (like that mouse the other day) will allow you to use gestures to turn pages (or bunch of pages), double tap it to put a book mark (naturally eh???), or do a dismissive wave on it to close the book or rather shutdown the book!!

Nice!

[ssuk @ Nov 18th 2007 6:41PM]

This is the only real concieveably good usage from this. Plus it cuts down on paper consumption. Not that I care, but it's a plus regardless.

[m @ Nov 18th 2007 8:56PM]

i'm a grad student. kids, this would suck for academic books. imagine if you had to pay $80 for a lousy encoded file, perhaps even one with a time limit, and you couldn't even write on it or copy pages for a friend. and what if you needed to reference multiple titles in order to write a paper? are you going to buy 4 $400 machines, and line them up? the publishing industry is NOT the friend of students. lots of library ILL departments are already being forced to send encrypted PDF files of articles in place of photocopies. who do you think marks up textbooks so high to begin with?

[Bob Sintas @ Nov 18th 2007 11:00PM]

Quoted by "m": perhaps even one with a time limit, and you couldn't even write on it or copy pages for a friend. and what if you needed to reference multiple titles in order to write a paper? are you going to buy 4 $400 machines, and line them up?"

If this would have school books, why would they put a time limit on it? If they did, they certainly wouldn't do it while you were attending class. That would be similar to your school taking away your phyical book in the middle of the semester. As for not writing on it, you can most likely just make notes on it. If you needed to copy pages for a friend... why would you do that in the first place? If you both are using physical books, he already has a copy. Unless he is some nerd that loves to read school books for classes he doesn't attend. Either way, copying copyright material is a no-no. If you want to share notes, just email it to him from the device or transfer it with an SD card. If you need to reference multiple titles in order to write a paper are you going to buy 4 school books and line them up? Probably not, but on this you can bookmark pages, run keyword searches, and who knows what else.

[Wwhat @ Nov 19th 2007 8:40AM]

I'm sure you can bung it on a photocopier and make a copy that way, it's reflective technology after all.
But I agree on the DRM, and what if it gets busted or stolen? then you lose ALL your textbooks? ouch.
As for notes, why do you think it has a keyboard? I'm sure you can make notes/placemarks.
And the reason you have 4 books open is because the information is in 4 books, now if you could push a button and switch between the 4 pages of info that might work too in many cases.

[Goopy @ Nov 18th 2007 5:12PM]

why can't they make these things cheaper? I could get laptop with that price tag.

[ulmeco @ Dec 8th 2007 1:32PM]

Because the technology is still quite new, and like with all other technology the development costs has to be paid somehow.

[Mark @ Nov 18th 2007 5:13PM]

Four hundred bucks, no backlight...

Still feels lacking to me. They need to make this thing significantly more appealing than simply carrying around a slim-design notebook.

The only real interesting point is the notion that this tech could finally reduce the long-gouged price of newly published books. Other than that, I'll wait for paperback, thanks.

[Mark @ Nov 18th 2007 5:33PM]

It looks very unsightly.

White? Why white? After a few long books that thing will become yellow and gross.

Use black, and make it more sleek and ergonomic to hold.

And a backlight should be built into it (for night time reading). Just cause, it can be. A lot of people like to read in bed at night, and not having to have a lamp on to read a book is a big plus.

[BigDrew @ Nov 19th 2007 1:20AM]

A backlight would be great, but obviously you haven't done any checking into e-ink or it's manufacturing process. Backlighting is impossible due to the way the molecules are sanwiched into the polymer layers. A front light is, however possible, and according to the previously leaked manual for the Kindle, it is equiped with one that folds out from the back (assumedly part of the thickness when compared to the Sony PRS-500 and 505).

Learn to understandthings fully before sticking your neck out to criticize a device.

I have owned most ebook reading devices since the RCA 1100, including palm pilots, the RCA 1200, the cybook, the PRS-500, and my current PRS-505.

I haven't held a physical book in my hands for several years, and couldn't be happier.

I'll buy this one next week, and spend the holidays evaluating wheather it beats my 505.

[Mark @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:32PM]

As a consumer, I don't need to research the manufacturing process of a device before critizing. It doesn't feature a backlight, and I don't really care about how the technology works, I am just a mere reader of a gadget blog. The article says it doesn't have a backlight, and makes no mention of a front light, and I don't have time to go searching for some leaked operations manual to see if there is a front light or not.

Besides, I am more concerned with how this thing looks. White is a bad color for consumer electronics, especially those you hold with your hands.

The lack of a backlight isn't a big deal to me, I will never buy this thing anyways, but thanks for enlightening me on e-ink technology, and its inability to have a backlight.

[Carbonize @ Nov 18th 2007 5:16PM]

Whilst I can see this replacing something like daily newspaper or possibly magazines I can't see it ever replacing books for things like novels. There's just something more real about holding paper in your hand. Anyone who has ever tried to read an eBook on their computer knows it's just not the same.

[thethirdmoose @ Nov 18th 2007 5:36PM]

You are right - reading an ebook on the computer sucks. But it's not because of the feel of paper - it's because of the resolution of print. I know this because I can't read documents and books well on my computer screen (96 dpi), but I can read books on my Archos 605 (220 dpi) as well as on paper.

[Michael Geary @ Nov 18th 2007 10:21PM]

I read my novels and Analog Magazine using Mobipocket on my Verizon Pantech PN-820 Smartphone, with its little two-inch display. I prefer it to paper. I don't try to cram the display full of text in a tiny font; I use a nice big font. Not very many words per page, but I don't care - it's trivial to hit the Down button.

I have the phone in my pocket anyway, so my books are always there when I have a few minutes to read. Wouldn't work for a mathematical text like John Derbyshire's _Prime Obsession_, but for the pure text in the SF I read, it works great.

[Jack @ Nov 18th 2007 5:21PM]

about time

[Nik Manning @ Nov 18th 2007 5:22PM]

I had to register with engadget to say I think this is the stupidest idea I have ever heard all year next to the folio.
1. Price is way to high.
2. Why can't people use their laptops to do the same stuff.
3. Why can't people use their smartphones to do the same thing.
4. The target audience would probably already have a smartphone, laptop, and ipod.
5. Why not just make the service work with the devices that people already have.

Who is planning on purchasing this device? We should really get a poll going for this.

[Fruition @ Nov 18th 2007 5:31PM]

Right, because "registering" with Engadget is difficult and time-consuming.

I had to buy a computer, subscribe to an ISP, open up a web browser, type in the address to Endgadget, and hit enter just so I could submit this comment.

[chay @ Nov 18th 2007 5:34PM]

Nik you haven't seen an eink display in the flesh have you?
You really need to, so as to appreciate just how much like paper this technology is. Because it's so paperlike it has none of the eyestrain associated with smartphones and laptops and the battery life can be amazing.

I agree with you that the price is way too high, but the same was true of MP3 players when they first came out. The same is true of next-gen consoles, Blu-ray players and everything else. It takes a few products and a few companies to play with a concept and improve it, before you get to a really good design at a really good price.

With this technology you have the added disadvantage that it's hard for people to understand just how easy on the eye the display technology is. Plus a lot of people rate a physical book very highly on their comfort meter.

To really break through, these things need to feel more like a book, look more like a book, and be at a $100-$150 price point. With a couple of free books thrown in, and stores where people can go try them out and see just how different the screen is from a laptop or PDA. I think once they hit that point where a good few people have them, the problem with not understanding the screen tech will go away.

Sorry that was longer than I intended.

[Nik Manning @ Nov 18th 2007 5:52PM]

Ok now I get it Fruit and Chay, I should look at what the product will eventually be and not what it actual is. Maybe they should just ship version 2 of the product and skip this one. The iPhone was overpriced also but people still wanted it. This product doesn't make me want to purchase at all.

I happen to buy books from Amazon.com all the time, but I don't think i would buy this device because I own a laptop. I would just rather download the books to my laptop.

You are correct Chay I have never seen a eink display so I won't talk bad about that part of the product anymore.

And no I don't think it was hard to register with engadget I just never had the urge to comment until now.

[jamma @ Nov 18th 2007 6:17PM]

@ Chay:
"To really break through, these things need to feel more like a book, look more like a book, and be at a $100-$150 price point"

If it feels and looks just like a book, and I have to pay the price of the books I want on top of the $100-$150, why not get just get books?

and however good these displays are, they won't come anywhere near as cheap as $150 for a long time, and will NEVER surpass actual paper

[Fruition @ Nov 18th 2007 7:15PM]

Sorry Nik, it just sounded like it was some great ordeal you went through. Now that you've clarified, I apologize for criticizing you.