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Amazon job postings ask for display and wireless experts, hint at Kindle things to come?
So, we already assume Amazon's thinking touch for the Kindle, what with that recent Touchco acquisition and word of similar behind-the-screen touch tech being on PVI's roadmap. PVI owns E Ink, and is naturally bullish about its upcoming products, but what about E Ink in the new Kindle? If you're into reading the tea leaves of job postings, Amazon might be telegraphing its intentions. It's looking for a "Hardware Display Manager" who, among many other things, is supposed to have "Significant exposure to high volume manufacturing environments; you will know the LCD business and key players in the market." That might have you thinking the next Kindle will go LCD, but the requirements also mention a "deep knowledge of current display technology and potential future technologies," and nothing about the role seems exactly prescriptive of an LCD expertise -- more of a general focus on displays and product design, whatever tech might come. Pixel Qi or Mirasol, anybody? Amazon's also looking for all sorts of software expertise, including a "Software Design Engineer" who will be responsible for radio stacks "including but not limited to" 3G and WiFi. Again, these are requirements (among many) for a role, not necessarily implications of a Kindle 3 spec sheet, but there's one thing clear: Amazon's gearing up for something.
A color Kindle is years away, buyers remorse here to stay
Hey, Kindle 2 owners, remember when Amazon made the device official and you thought: "Well, it took them a year and a half to replace the old one, so I can buy this one without fears of immediate obsolescence." And then remember how three months later they announced the Kindle DX and you thought: "Oh." Well, if you're now fearing a color Kindle will come sauntering along in a few months to make everyone jealous, fear not, as Jeff Bezos is saying the tech is still "multiple years" away, adding "I've seen the color displays in the laboratory and I can assure you they're not ready for prime time." From the few prototypes we've seen we'd tend to agree. So, anyone still on the fence about a Kindle, go ahead and buy now with confidence, as your devices won't be made to look quaint any time soon -- at least until that pizza box-sized reader Amazon's been working on in secret is announced in July. Did we mention it actually cooks pizza?
