Amazon to host press event at library, innocently whistling when asked about the Kindle 2
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Jan 27th 2009 11:34AM
posted Jan 27th 2009 11:34AM
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Nice! Just in time for my refund.
Got a gift card at Christmas specifically this purpose! Here's to hoping!
Same here, but after reading the e-book prices are INCREASING steadily, I might spend my money on something else. Let's see, they don't have to pay for the paper, shipping costs, ink, etc for an e-book, but the e-book price is approaching the hardcover price. Makes NO sense, vote with your wallets!
It makes perfect sense, actually. The last thing publishers want to do is establish a new, lower standard price for books. So even though their distribution costs are gone, they will keep e-books at close to the same price as the real thing, to avoid killing brick and mortar stores for good (killing brick and mortars is bad because then Amazon will be the only player in town).
What I would like to see is some sort of subscription. I don't buy books as a rule, and I get all my reading from the library. I'm willing to pay a monthly fee to get the same service without leaving home or worrying about due dates. If Amazon can provide a subscription service I suspect the Kindle will really take off.
@Perno My understanding is that the margins on books are very very small, so don't expect to see 50% discounts on ebooks any time soon.
I really like my Sony reader, but I might be willing to pick a Kindle 2 up if:
1. It supports the same formats as the Sony (minus the Sony DRM format, of course)
2. It doesn't make my eyes bleed every time I look at it.
@smib
I'd love a touchscreen for the simple reason that eliminating the keyboard (which, as you say, isn't frequently used by most readers) would allow for several more inches of vertical screenspace. Fewer page turns would be great.
Other than that, I'm really only hoping for the Kindle to lose a few ounces of weight. It's an okay weight now, but it gets a little bit awkward when reading on my back.
@Harkonian, you are right: book margins are slim, and most lose money. The lucky few make it possible for publishers to take a risk on all the others. ebooks are mostly loss leaders, so don't expect winfall pricing.
ebooks may not incur all the same costs, including print, freight and storage (of the same scale), but they share the same pre-press costs (acquisition, design, editing, layout, royalties) and can have similar marketing costs. They also have unique costs, such as distinct coding e.g. xhtml (though the distinctions are blurring, as many publishers now code everything, just in case).
So there is not much in the way of savings to pass along. There is also too little competition among retailers of ebooks, so they are more instrumental in setting prices than are the publishers. However, everybody is trying to keep costs reasonable in order to reel in customers and get this party started. Lastly, business schools teach us to charge according to the value to the customer. If ebooks provide you with better value (e.g. search and annotation, or new features like animation or hyperlinks), you might pay more. So why discount them against paper-based products with less utility? But I will leave it to the marketers to convince you of the value.
I just hope Amazon announces something I can bear to look at, and might even want to touch.
Forget the Kindle Mk II, I'd be happy with the first gen being for sale in the UK.
Sadly, I guess that a New York event is not where they'd announce a UK/international version :(
With any luck, the new version will sport:
1) A touch-screen
2) Repositioned side buttons
3) Faster whispernet
4) A better protective binder
Copy/paste, WiFi, E-mail, etc. would be nice as well, but if it's got those four items, I'm sold.
I'm not buying it until it has a colour multi-touch screen, wi-fi, a 2 megapixel camera, an SDK, an accelerometer (useful for reading landscape books), and Bluetooth. I'd also like it to come with 8 GB of storage and cost $199. Until then, no sale.
then buy an iphone and download stanza,
or you will be waiting years for that price on a color e-ink display
Why would you need a camera in an EBook reader? And even more, need it so much that its lack is a dealbreaker?
1) A touchscreen - Totally unnecessary IMO, I don't see any advantage to having this. The only input I ever need to do with this is to occasionally type in a book or author's name to search and to turn pages.
2) Repositioned side buttons - Definitely with you on this. While I did end up getting used to them, the buttons as they are can be annoying.
3) Faster whispernet - I don't know about others' experiences, the the whispernet is very fast for me. 400+ Page books arrive in under 2 minutes.
4) A better protective binder - While I have no issue with the current one, those that actually carry their Kindle around on a regular basis would likely agree.
@ smib- for most purposes I would agree with you that a touch screen is pointless for this sort of application. However, if Amazon wants to break into the student textbook market in a big way a touch screen for highlighting and inputting margin notes would be optimal. (I'm sad I'll be out of grad school before this revoltion comes along). That, and those who like to read with a pen.
@ Optimalrobot - you sir, are an iDiot.
Maybe /sarcasm tags are actually needed for some people?
Why would you want to get fingerprints all over the surface you're trying to read from?
Don't worry, optimalrobot, some of us got the joke.
@ FOREX - Good point about the highlighting. Not being a student it didn't even occur to me.
I would have thought that touch input was stupid too based on my experiences with PocketPC devices years ago. But, I got a chance to help a friend develop an app for his iPod Touch, and now I hate any other method of scrolling/page turning.
Being able to directly select a word for a definition or an item inside the kindle store seems better than scroll-clicking (sometimes multiple times). Jim Treacher makes an excellent point about fingerprints, although it doesn't seem too distracting on either of my phones.
smib is correct about book retrieval, however I meant navigation of the kindle store...which seems a little slow to me. It would probably help if I actually said that...
I, too, appreciated Optimalrobot's joke.
Probably the Kindle 2 we've seen a while ago? The one with the less crazy design?
On my wishlist: a version with a bigger screen. And all of that coming to Europe. That's all.
They would have to change the radio to sell in outside the US. I wonder if they'd do that, or sell two models..
I've never even seen a Kindle in public.
...that's because they have an 11 to 13 week shipping delay. Plus they're $380.
Drop the price significantly (realistically these need to sell for under $200 before most people will bite), and make these available at every Best Buy and WalMart, and this device WILL revolutionize books with the same magnitude as the iPod/iTunes revolutionized music
Ive never seen you in public either.
What's your point?
My point? I've never seen a Kindle in public. You went to school on the short bus, right?
I've never seen you in public, Dr. Chapel, so by your logic you don't exist either. Now please cease.
And by your logic only one kindle exists.
Everyone please shut up.
I'm buyin! :-)
Hopefully it's just a bit CHEAPER!!!!!! A slightly better design wouldn't hurt at all either, but I'm mostly just concerned about price.
I love the Kindle, but personally I think all it needs is a little better button positioning (I seem to accidentally bump the next page when reading in bed), a backlight and a more affordable price.
The event being held at a library makes me wonder if they are going to open the Kindle up to some of the downloadable timed DRM library books like are offered from local libraries via companies like Overdrive. http://overdrive.com/
That could push me over the edge to finally buying a Kindle, as you could both buy Amazon books and read free books available through my library.
If this thing lets you download titles from your local library for free, I'll buy TWO!!!
That would be killer... if it could connect to online library resources like overdrive or netlibrary that would be great. It would also be great if it included a good audio book player, that worked with DRM.
"good audio book player, that worked with DRM" um, right. I've got some other stuff to sell you too.
1. a car that doesn't run out of gas
2. a computer that doesn't crash
3. a gun that doesn't shoot people
4. a device with good DRM
This looks even more likely considering that the current Amazon Kindle states "Expected to ship in 4 to 6 weeks." Hmmm...
*crossing fingers* C'monnnnn Kindle 2. I put aside money for a Kindle and a bunch of books last year, waiting for the 2nd iteration to be announced.
As much as the kindle is a great device I still will always go for the sony reader over it. The sony e-reader being cheaper (around $200 or so if you do the sony cc deal) and more versatile with file formats are why I got it. The newest version even has the touch screen, selecting/marking text, and searching.
The touch screen on the Sony is not as good as the 505 for clarity. After seeing the 700 my wife is happily staying with her 505.
I think a lot of people completely miss the boat on what the point of the Kindle is. People asking for color touch-screens/blue-tooth etc. don't realize the power requirements of such features completly go against everything the kindle does... not to mention it's a non-backlit screen.
I'd take simply a re-designed chasis with the same tech inside personally. I love my Kindle but there are some truly brain-dead designs to this thing.. mainly the button placement in general.
"But if it's not flashy, how can it be any good?"
The Kindle does what it says it does: lets you hold hundreds of books on one device and read them any time you want. After a brief adjustment period, there's no barrier between you and the text. It really does "disappear," just the way a paper book does when you become engrossed in it. Don't worry about it, iNerds.
Give me the Design of the Sony, the software, the weight and the thickness of the Cybook, $200 price with ePUB format support and I'am in.
You forgot to ask for a unicorn.
@cameron What use is a unicorn without the rainbows?
Neil Patrick Harris has all the unicorns.
Here is one of those few times I have non-tech feelings. I'm 26, own a T-Mobile G1, build my own PC's and love downloading MP3's, but I'm also a History grad, written a thesis, gone through archives for months researching, and I just love everything about physical books.
So sorry kindle, I will never buy you no matter what version you come in, I love my books to much.
'Cause when you buy a Kindle, they come to your house and burn all your books.
Sorry, DVDs and cable TV, I love movie theaters too much.
Those responses don't make any sense. When you buy a Kindle, the purpose is to download books instead of buying them. I like buying physical books, not downloading them so why would I buy a Kindle if I want real books? I didn't attack anyone wanting a Kindle, I just don't want one, the end.
Two, movies still come out before DVDs, and few people on earth have 30x60 foot plasma TV's or in home movie theaters, so buying DVDs 8 months after the movie is out and watching it on your comparatively smaller TV does not correlate with replacing the movie going experience.
I'm sorry these horseless carriages will never catch on
Nothing will replace sitting in my reading chair with a beautiful hardbound edition of something from my library, but I'd also like to be able to read more casual books by just clicking a button-- without waiting days for delivery, making a trip to a physical store, cluttering up my physical library, or even having to carry anything additional around with me.
I want a Kindle just to expand my reading, not to replace anything. I still loves me a real book.
I found these images via twitter... check them out here: http://www.boygeniusreport.com/gallery/devices/amazon-kindle-2/
The Kindle definently needs a new design before I'll purchase it.
It would be really nice if this Kindle also meant Amazon started selling DRM-free ebooks (due to the success of their music store), but I'm skeptical that would happen.
Considering Amazon loses money everytime they sell books, I find that unlikely.
Maybe they'll annouce they finally decided to charge people for conversions because I have yet to charged yet for my dozens of OTA conversions.
Of course that's not to say I want to be charged.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/4361449/Amazon-holding-press-conference-to-announce-launch-of-Kindle-2.html
There are links to the new pics in the body of this article. Better button positioning...sorry folks no touchscreen :)
Or maybe they'll just burn the place down so that we have to buy ebooks.
Was that English?
There's a joke about literacy here somewhere. I'm having trouble putting it to words.
At $359, there is NO incentive for me to get a Kindle at all. Even with it's "always-on" cell link, I can't get worked up about a glorified Palm V. And once the eeePC T91 is released, I think my dream e-book reader (+ more) will have arrived.
I would love to see if they start selling pieces by length...for example, $1.99 for a short story.
The only thing to move me from admiring the interation to buying is COLOR.
I had a Kindle for about 6 months and loved it, it got stolen in the UK. It was made for somebody like me- I buy a ton of books and am running out of room in my house, so the Kindle is perfect. I can buy the books I want and not have my house be overrun with books. I still bought a few "real" books but not nearly as many plus, when you go on vacation, you can bring as many books on the Kindle as you want, without worrying about taking up space in your luggage. I've been in line for another Kindle since Dec. and can't wait for it to come out and hope it is the 2.0.
until these things get flexible like real paper, theres no curlin up with a good kindle.
Wake me up when they come out with a Letter-sized display + annotation capability. Students and business professionals are where the real market is. No leisure reader needs to spend $359 to read one of these Danielle Steel novels that you buy in the airport.
I just came across a similar article on Kindle 2.
If you're interested in seeing pictures of the New Kindle 2, go to: http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/01/27/amazon-kindle-2-may-be-coming-on-february-9th
Ps. I hope posting this link is in accordance with the Engadget's rules. If not please remove it.
I don't think this is going to be about hardware. Think "Netflix for books". Subscribe to a monthly service, and check out x # of books per month.
If you really love books you want to get the one you want the easiest way possible. If Kindle is the one that does it I'm fine with that too