Is Amazon hiring devs to build a robust web browser for Kindle?
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted March 9th 2010 4:21PM
posted March 9th 2010 4:21PM
Are you a software dev with a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, familiarity with current Web standards, and experience with browser engines, Linux on embedded devices, and Java? If so, do we have the job for you. Lab126, the group at Amazon responsible for the Kindle, wants you to help "conceive, design, and bring to market" a new embedded browser on a Linux device. Might this be a sign that the company is ready to start taking web browsing on the e-reader seriously? We don't know, but it sure sparked some interesting discussion over at All Things Digital. As Peter Kafka points out, a decent browser for the thing is pretty much a no-brainer in light of the Apple iPad. On the other hand, the idea of a robust browser on the Kindle has its own complications. What about subscription content like the New York Times -- why would anyone pay for something that's available for free on the web, if you're using the same device to view both? And what about all that new data traffic? Surely AT&T will have something to say about that. Of course, we've been hearing enough scuttlebutt about a mysterious next-gen device being developed at Amazon that perhaps this has nothing to do with the Kindle whatsoever. Who knows? These are all questions that will have to be answered sooner or later, but in the meantime we can say with some certainty that E ink is definitely not the best way to troll 4chan.
Finally. as a kindle owner, i really love my device, it's very useful, i basically sold my entire book collection and i have only a kindle. But it's only a book, and it doesn't stand a chance once the ipad comes out. they have to do so much more to catch up. The kindle needs to have a fully capable web browser (no flash), a word document editor, and an email device, and it would be SO MUCH MORE POTENT! wake up amazon, You're about to get run over by a better device. Now, i love my kindle and would keep it unless i see you guys are doing nothing to keep customers like me happy. If there are no significant changes to make the kindle more useful, i'm selling my kindle to get an ipad.
The next kindle is getting a pixel qi screen.
Woohoo!
Caturday? On my kindle!?
ITT: Engadget comenters
Will it play Flash?
Oh yes! greyscale browsing? going 1999 all over again!
Greyscale Kitty on my Kindle? yes please!
I kinda want them not to. I like my free web on it!
So the days of one purpose-built device are officially over, then?
I'm assuming this browser is going to be for the next Kindle device, with full-color screen. Having a browser on a device which can only display black and white (or 14 shades of gray or whatever) is pretty pointless. The "experimental" browser already implemented doesn't count, as it is... experimental.
Good comments here. When will Bezos wake up and build a browser that works?