I still think this photo looks like a Tiny Steve Jobs holding an iphone.
Oh and preorders for ipad start today.
Category: gadgets
So Wednesday I was out sick again with this dang cold I just can’t seem to shake. It’s too early in the year to have used up half of my sick days already! Being the good little sick boy that I am, I rounded up all the usual supplies: tea, soup, kleenex, pajamas, and a good book to read between naps. Well, I didn’t have anything I wanted to read at home, so I after dropping my girlfriend off at work I stopped off at Barnes & Noble and spent $259 + tax on a new book, er… nook.
It’s nothing that I did lightly either, I’ve been debating the merits of the Sony Reader and the Kindle for a long time. The problem was always the price though. When the nook was announced, Barnes and Noble knocked the floor out and brought the price down to a level that was more palatable to me. Amazon quickly matched their price and I decided against Sony early on because of compatibility issues that I’ve experienced in the past between Sony devices and my Mac.
Really what it came down to for me was aesthetics and timing. I had some Christmas money socked away and Amazon didn’t appear to be releasing a touch screen Kindle anytime soon. I’m not a huge touchscreen fan, however the buttons on the Kindle are sort of a buzzkill for me. My Blackberry has buttons and I’m cool with that, but buttons on a device that I’m going to use primarily for reading? Forget it. Nook also sweetened the pot by adding a replaceable battery and expandable memory.
So will I regret that nook purchase? Not likely.
This is the big day for Amazon, when they will allegedly make the announcement of the Kindle 2. From the leaked photos, seen here, it appears they’re going towards a sleeker, more iPod like design. The price point is supposed to be about the same as the first gen… $369 $359, I’ve heard.
Updates will be posted somewhat live. Following are some updates posted from by engadget and Crunchgear Silicon Alley
10:54: and it’s a wrap
10:52: will start shipping on the 24th, with priority given to Kindle 1 owners
10:50: and wraps up his fanboy story
10:45: “Okay look — the story is basically about how crazy and awesome the Kindle is. So far it’s not King’s most chilling work.” -Joshua Topolsky (engadget)
10:39 blah blah Stephen King reads a story that he wrote about the new Kindle in exchange for one
10:35: and now Stephen King is taking the stage
10:31: The announcement is now up on Amazon, with a letter from Bezos
10:29: weighs 10.2 ounces, holds 1500 books, backed up on Amazon.com -via image posted on engadget
10:27: haha, the damn thing will read text to you -via engadget
10:26: 5 way navigation allows you to navigate through pages and do word searches -via engadget
10:25: Crunchgear is back up… smoother page transitions rather than the old flash to black -via crunchgear
10:22: 7 times more storage, automatic delivery of magazines and newspapers, and “whispersync” which I guess syncs up your page number between devices… -via engadget
10:20: Yeah — this is the exact device we’ve seen. Minimal, grid keyboard, new button placement, and no slider (boo!). -from engadget
10:20: and we have, as expected, the Kindle 2
10:14: “More than 10% of the units we sell are Kindle book sales — that’s astonishing. So what happened? 230,000 things happened, and that’s Kindle books. Even the best device without selection is useless.” -credit engadget
10:12: “If Guttenberg came back, he would recognize the book. 20 years ago, we had another revolution — connected devices, computers, mobile devices connected to the internet. These tools are accelerating our ability to read short form.” from engadget
10:09: and they’re finally starting, now following Crunchgear’s updates.
10:00: all the tech press is in the conference room at the Morgan Library in New York, apparently Amazon is running a bit behind schedule.
wrap-up of the Kindle 2 press conference
As expected, the Kindle 2 was announced, some impressive features included the size at .36 inches it’s thinner than an ipod. It weighs in at 10.2 ounces and has 7 times the capacity of the previous kindle (in the press conference they said that’s about 1500 books). The battery life is supposed to be about 25% longer, they’ll be introducing new partnerships with other print publications like the New Yorker. There will also be automatic updates for newspaper and magazine subs. They’ve also introduced something called “whispersync” which syncs your kindle with your computer or other device to recall the page that you left off on.
In all, I’m pretty impressed, and I feel that devices like this could eventually be the replacement of paper. Where I’m disappointed is that Amazon still hasn’t figured out that more people will buy it if they drop the price via a subsidized subscription scheme, like cell phones. I’ve said it again and again, and I’ll keep saying it until they finally figure it out. The first newspaper- ANYWHERE, that offers a kindle at half off to me in exchange for a contracted one year delivery to my device will get my business. If they offer a 2/3 price reduction, I’ll contractually sign up for two years.
One other point I was a little disappointed about was that there was no announcement about lifting blog “subscription” fees. I can read blogs for free on my mobile (granted with a $20 unlimited data plan) and I will continue to do so. Kindle is a cool device for books right now, and could be for newspapers or magazines as well, if they would just make some strategic and industry-wide deals.
