Keepin' it real fake, part CCLIII: Amazon.com gets copied with its Kindle in tow
By Laura June 
posted January 26th 2010 11:01AM
posted January 26th 2010 11:01AM
[Thanks, Vinod P.]
posted January 26th 2010 11:01AM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
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You sure its not owned by amazon?
@ipxnsv
Infibeams owner was part of the Amazon team some time ago, not to mention theres rumors of Amazon buying infibeam around when they changed their look to amazon like feel.
I think engadget got the wrong idea here possibly.
@ipxnsv The Kindle 2 offers a very large library of tens of thousands of e-books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs via Amazon's familiar online store; built-in free wireless "Whispernet" data network--no PC needed; built-in keyboard for notes and navigation; a faster processor speeds up the device; with 2GB of internal memory,And has a voice-recog capability. For sure this KIRF device can only do one of such many functionalities of the real kindle 2 Reader. More Details: http://bit.ly/kindle-2-details
I don't get it... Why would we want to copy Amazon and name it as if it came from Krypton?
As opposed to the jungle?
It's a Cybook Gen3 device in white :)
http://www.bookeen.com/specs/ebook-CybookGen3.aspx
isnt infibeam part of amazon?
Lol it also looks like most of the products on the site are knock-offs!
On a side note, Nice to see some non-Apple related news =D
KIRFILICIOUS!
Are we sure this isn't some sort of elaborate RickRoll?
"Games: If you ever get bored of reading you can also enjoy a game of Sudoku. Wait till we add more!" Hahahaha, brilliant!
There is something about Ebook readers that I just don't like (KIRFS or otherwise) They just seem like a step backwards, I just don't think you can beat a real book! and for newspapers you can get an app for that.
I will just wait for my Apple Tablet thank-you very much!
InfiBeam founder was part of Amazon M&A team and rumours have been flying for months that Amazon will be buying a large chunk of InfiBeam.
Foreign retailers cannot open up in India so Indian companies tend to open up and copy the look of the company they want to step in and buy them much like the Baazee/eBay deal.
On a related matter which came first Engadget's new look or Wired's ?
They look VERY similar.
Foreign retails can't open in India, but India is sure eager to steal jobs from the foreign companies. Interesting.
@Elranzer steal? really? you sound terribly misinformed.
@Elranzer
Or maybe our money hungry CEO's want to send all those jobs there to make huge profit. No?
@Elranzer some indian stole your job?
@Elranzer http://www.retail-week.com/india-paves-way-for-foreign-retail-investment/1993720.article
http://neweconomist.blogs.com/new_economist/2006/01/india_opens_up_.html
@Elranzer
That's the way we roll dude :)
Actually, I bet you the reason this site was designed like Amazon was, that Engadget would post it and all it's readers would click into it giving it alot of page views and clicks on the ads as well as purchasing of the ebooks, meaning profit for Infibeam
@PATRICKmcnicholl Son of a... I just clicked through and bought the new e-reader, just because Engadget had it on their site! Crap, now I have to learn local Indian languages just to use it... See, their plan worked! This does not forebode well... Ganesh save us all...
@Lothimos. I told ya.... :)
@Lothimos
My god, that racist old man downstairs from me was RIGHT!
"Those damn punjabs *muttermutter*" are taking over!
@Lothimos
By all means learn English :) It will be good for you.
And you wouldn't have to seek Ganesha :)
o_O
Wow, Laura, I take back what I said in that Apple tablet post.
A robot story, followed by a KIRF. Now just round up the best iPhone apps for this week, and I'm officially a soothsayer.
They should have named it as Ganges instead of infibeam :-)
Ganges is the biggest river in India like amazon to the world.
Amazon's Logo has that orange arrow under Amazon word, and that arrow is in a very specific place, it's pointing from A to Z..as in amazon has everything.
Infibeam even copied that arrow..except in their case it's pointing to BM
:/
@MxxCon
ya, the first and last letters of the indian alphabet, right?
@MxxCon They have everything! Not everything A through Z... Just everything between B and M...
@MxxCon - That's what the first thought I had was. The logo had that specific thought in mind then they screwed up the concept with the whole B-M thing.
Haha!! this is funny and completely unsurprising. Im indian, so i know. Indians copy EVERYTHING. I mean there isnt one thing that india has made completely original. If you look at bollywood movies, there are exact copies of the hollywood movies. Its just sad...
@Nexus4144 "If you look at bollywood movies, there are exact copies of the hollywood movies"
i think you meant "poor imitations of the hollywood movies". bollywood films are not entertaining, have poor production values, and always have some huge song and dance routine for an intermission.
@Nexus4144
Lot of Bollywood movies ape Hollywood. But to say that there is nothing original is pushing it a little bit. So when was the last time you saw a Bollywood movie?
@oakie
Huge song and dance numbers... reminds me of the new (post season 3) family guy crap.
No Infibeam Prime? Lame.
Oh lol. India's 1st reading device. Translation fail, surely it's supposed to be Number 1, not the first. Although, then again...
according to xe.com this thing costs 21.5907 USD
http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi?Amount=999&From=INR&To=USD
lolz.
Actually I have bought a few books from them and I assure you they are not fake .. even though their site is an absolute Amazon ripoff. Their search sucks though .. they didn't copy that ;)
As for the 'Pi'... if I am getting a 6'' e-ink reader for INR 999 ( ~$20 ) .. I may definitely get one!! It would be worlds better than 'Aldiko' (http://www.aldiko.com/) on my G1.
@thomasantony the price of the reader is not 999, that's the "booking amount", the price is 9999, so that's more like 218 USD, so it's not a screaming steal or anything
@vinayaravind I know that now. I mailed the support before I made my decision. They told me the same thing.
At 9000, its not worth it :) .. This year is gonna be year of the e-readers from what I have seen so far. Hopefully, competition will bring the prices down.
Somebody's got to be the pedantic son of a bitch, I might as well be first: The proper Roman numerals would be CCCL for 350 not CCLLL.
Engadget, I grow tired of your incorrect use of roman numerals.
Even their Marketing Collateral is a Kindle Rip-Off. The most Hilarious part is this "Lady in the Coffee Shop" picture. Below are both the Kindle and Pi versions! ROTFLOL!!:-)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeelz/4307065426/
Its not a Kindle "ripoff" its a Netronix Clone, Just Like Foxit/Cybook/Cool-er etc etc. Although now I suppose one would more properly say "PocketBook Global" clone
In India, Copyright means "Right to copy". :-). The $20 for the PI e-book is just the booking amount if you want to pre-order. It actually costs something like $250. You are better off buying the kindle in India. Amazon sells that in India too. You would be chump to buy this PI.
That's right! No matter what country you're in, you too, can sit in a coffee shop.
@Lothimos
That's right. Just like Starbucks India's got Barista coffee shops. I think there are over 2000 of them all over the country.
Good. Amazon blows.
Are we sure this is not a joke?
In their "About Us" page, they write: We anticipate becoming profitable by 2099 so take advantage of these lowest prices until we retire..
Which company would claim to become profitable 90 years from now? LOL!
Who is Geoff Pezos? that definitely does not sound like an Indian name.
I have to comment because, it's BETTER LOOKING THAN THE KINDLE!
Who wants stupid keyboard on their books? Do you take note when you read novels? Not me.