These are actually my thoughts on this rather fascinating interview with Jeff Bezos on Kindle 2 in the Seattle Times.
Kindle 2 + Netbooks
Mr. Bezos and Amazon are thinking about expanding Kindle Books to Netbooks. It’s confirmed beyond a doubt -
Q: Will you take the software you have on a Kindle and put it onto something like a netbook?
Answer from Mr. Bezos: That’s what WhisperSync is about. We want to make Kindle a bookstore – the largest e-bookstore in the world, with 230,000 titles and growing. We want to make those titles also available on a bunch of different devices and then synchronize them with Kindle. If you’re in line at the grocery store and you want to read a few pages on your phone, you can go right where you left off, and then when you get back home, maybe you pick up your Kindle and keep reading there.
Q: It seems like there’s a big opportunity for you if you don’t require people to buy a Kindle to use the software and services.
Answer from Mr. Bezos: The two things are separate. The Kindle e-book library will be available if you do want a device that’s purpose-built for reading. You want to be able to synchronize it, that’s what Whispersync is about. It’s not a requirement.
Q: With the volume so big on netbooks and the devices having long battery life, I wonder if you’ll develop some sort of Kindle reading application for them?
Answer from Mr. Bezos: The way you should think about it is we’re excited about making that library available on just about every device.
This seems to make it abundantly clear that Amazon is separating Kindle 2, the device, from Kindle – the ebook library, and that it will be targeting a variety of devices like netbooks and cell phones. Exciting news indeed.
Kindle 2 Subsidized Hardware
Q: Will we see Kindle hardware subsidized through subscription deals, like, say, a book of the month club or a newspaper subscription?
Answer from Mr. Bezos: Anything’s possible. I think there is reason for optimism about newspapers on Kindle because if you look at the printing cost of newspapers, these are dramatically large expenses. There is an argument to be made that over time – and it will take some time – that printing infrastructure doesn’t make as much sense as everybody having a device like this
This is similar to the recent news article saying that the NY Times might be better off sending each of its 873,000 regular subscribers a Kindle 2 each.
Kindle 2′s Competitive Advantage.
It was interesting that Mr. Bezos spoke about the Kindle being as much of a Business Innovation as a technological innovation. In particular he said 3G wireless, bundling (wireless service fees) into the cost, and making the books cost less were all Kindle business innovations that gave it an advantage.
Why Kindle 2 doesn’t have a TouchScreen
A really good answer on that – Basically, current touch screen technology for eInk involves putting a touchscreen layer over the eInk and this affects the contrast and visibility of the screen. The fact that there is an extra layer on top of the eInk (and it’s not 100% transparent) means that light goes through that transparent layer twice (i guess the refraction when changing materials factors in too) and gets degraded.
This makes sense since the biggest knock on the Sony Reader PRS-700 is that its eInk is not as readable (too reflective) and is terrible in direct sunlight.
Why Kindle 2 is priced as high as $359.
It comes with a lot of built in technology – the EVDO chip, the eInk screen, and it comes with free WhisperNet and with no contract and no Internet Access or usage charges. A lot of phones are subsidized and also charge heavily for internet access. The price cannot hit $199 because there is a lot of technology going in and components that are not cheap.
Overall, it was a really good interview and I’d recommend checking it out – also, Mr. Bezos said Kindle 3 will not have a color screen since eInk color screen technology is still multiple years away.
Filed under: kindle 2 Tagged: | jeff bezos on kindle, kindle interview
This article makes me wonder if Amazon will cook up an .azw Reader application for the PC (and Mac!) that is Whispersync enabled. Perhaps an offshoot of the Mobipocket Reader software.
It would be great to be able to read eBooks purchased through Amazon from a PC (say on lunch hour from work) if you don’t have your Kindle with you. Then pick up your Kindle at home and have it sync’ed up to where you left off.
Netflix has a simliar feature with its streaming content. A movie that starts streaming on one device remembers its position on the next device you stream it to (say starting a movie on PC and watching the rest on Xbox or Tivo).
I have a Kindle and an iPod Touch and being able to read my book on either device and have my spot stay synched would be really sweet.
Like Jeff said, my preference for extended reading is the Kindle, but my Touch is always with me and would be great for opportunistic reading!!
method – I think that’s exactly what Jeff Bezos is hinting at. I didn’t know Netflix had that feature – it actually sounds really cool.
Chad, what do you think a larger iPod Touch would be like? Would you prefer reading on a 9″ iPod Touch or the Kindle?
I hadn’t realized when I posted that comment that Netbooks are really just stripped down laptops. So it seems to me that there would have to be some type of Amazon Reader program to enable reading on those devices… I just hope it’s compatible with standard PCs!
Switch:
A bigger Touch would still be backlit and less comfortable for extended reading and the batery would not last nearly as long.
i prefer a big Kindle and a small “always there” Touch. If the Touch were bigger, it wouldn’t be “always there”