Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

A Touch Kindle might be arriving in 2010 or 2011.

The biggest clue? Amazon just acquired a tiny New York based multi touch company.

NY Times broke the news and the Bits Blog just happens to have video and photographs of the technology. Nick Bilton of Bits Blog had interviewed the company, Touchco, in January.

Touch Kindle – Touchco and their Multi Touch Technology  

Touchco is a company formed to commercialize IFSR technology.

1. IFSR stands for Interpolating Force-Sensitive Resistance. These are really advanced sensors.
2. IFSRs were developed at New York University’s Media Research Lab by Ilya Rosenberg and Prof. Ken Perlin.
3. IFSRs can detect any object – not just a finger. Would work great with the Kindle Electronic Pen .
4. IFSR technology can determine the amount of pressure being applied at various points.
5. It uses less power than capacitive sensors.
6. It is much cheaper to produce.
7. It’s completely flexible.
8. It has a really elegant design behind it - There are horizontal and vertical wires and the amount of current at an intersection varies based on how close the touch is (and perhaps the pressure).

In a nutshell – Amazon just acquired technology that might be the best multi-touch technology around.

The fact that IFSR can catch both finger touches and a pen or stylus is critical. It allows Amazon to design a Kindle Touch version that captures handwriting via pens (perhaps the Kindle Electronic Pen – the one with the inbuilt camera and whispernet) and also page turns and other finger touches.

Touchco Details still available

While most of the search engines’ caches have been updated to show nothing you can still get the inside scoop - Here’s a cached page explaining the technology that might soon be in Kindles.

Some of the interesting technical specifications -

Thickness: 0.01″ (0.25 mm)

Speed: 60 Hz to 500 Hz

Resolution: 100 dpi* (254 µm)

Pressure Range: 5 g – 5 kg**

Production Cost: $10/sq. ft. in high volume

The 100 dpi resolution can be improved by using finer wire spacing.

Touch Kindle – When? How? and the iPad Angle

Pretty much every article on the acquisition paints this as Amazon’s move to take on the iPad and they’re right.

This acquisition has ‘We’re ready to fight the iPad’ written all over it.

When will the technology be integrated in the Kindle?

Probably sometime in 2010 or 2011.

There’s this really interesting snippet from the Bits Blog’s original coverage of Touchco (do check out how the sensor can capture the variation in pressure levels of a pencil drawing) -

Mr. Perlin believes you will see a new range of multitouch e-readers in the coming year …

Really?

That could mean a multi touch Kindle is slated for 2010 – Even if it gets delayed we might see a touch kindle by early to mid 2011.

It’s entirely possible that Amazon had the technology already lined up for use and decided to buy the company to prevent its competitors from getting it. Or perhaps after the iPad was released Amazon looked around and found Touchco.

TouchCo worked on a digital sketchbook with Disney

A multi touch Kindle with handwriting support becomes a definite possibility when you consider Touchco’s Disney project -

Touchco has also been working closely with Disney animators to create a true digital sketchbook replacement, utilizing extremely sensitive pressure sensors to determine pencil thickness or even use of an eraser.

The software behind the sensors can easily differentiate between the palm of a hand, a brush or a pencil.

A screen that can differentiate between your palm, your fingers, your brush and your pencil – that screams multi touch Kindle with handwriting support.

Is Amazon building a multi-touch Kindle or a multi-purpose Kindle?

This acquisition brings up an important question – What exactly are Amazon’s plans for this amazing new multi touch technology?

1. Perhaps Amazon is simply adding a great multi-touch screen to the Kindle which doesn’t cause glare and does make the Kindle easier to use.
2. Perhaps Amazon is creating a new dual-purpose Kindle that supports reading and writing. 
3. Perhaps Amazon will introduce an entirely new device that will be multi-purpose.

I doubt Amazon will turn the Kindle into a multi-purpose device. This acquisition probably has to do with making the Kindle a much better eReader and possibly an eWriter.

Random Thoughts

Here are some thoughts -

1. It really does seem to be a great technology. 
2. What happens to the sketchbook project with Disney? It’d be perfect for a Kindle Journal feature. 
3. It’s just a six person company – Amazon might have saved itself a few hundred millions dollars by acquiring it early.
4. Would this work well with eInk? It’s supposed to be built to work with LCDs.
5. It’s great to see Amazon make a solid technology move to improve the Kindle.
6. Multi-touch certainly improves the prospect for Kindle Apps – imagine a 3D touch based folders app.
7. Why would the Touchco guy be talking about an eReader arriving in 2010?
8. How soon will eReaders with this technology arrive?
9. Could Amazon be planning a Nook style dual screen design or perhaps one like the Entourage Edge?

There are a lot of unanswered questions and that’s certainly the way Amazon likes to do things. 

Hoping for an excellent Multi Touch Kindle

It’s about time we got some huge jumps in eReader technology.

• Color is certainly something to look forward to.
• Kindle Apps are going to be great and hopefully will be followed by apps for other eReaders.
• A Multi-Touch screen that can distinguish a palm from a finger and also work with a pen or stylus is certainly exciting.

2010 is turning out to be quite the year.

By buying up Touchco Amazon has gotten itself a significant competitive advantage over other eReaders – The only question left is how soon they’ll bring a Kindle with this technology to market.

Filed under: kindle 3 Tagged: | kindle multi touch, touch kindle