Kindle Phone 3D? Kindle Phone with Eye Tracking & Gesture Recognition?

Posted on May 9, 2013 by switch11

A new Kindle Phone from Amazon rumor from The Wall Street Journal today.

  1. Key: A high-end Kindle Phone 3D that allows for 3D images without glasses.
  2. Key: A total of two smartphones and an audio-only streaming device.
  3. Interesting: Retina-tracking technology would be used to make images float above the screen like a hologram. That’s some very science fiction type stuff. Amazon? Really? Have the WSJ guys seen what the Kindle Fire 1 looked like? The company that made that boxy thing is going to make a Kindle Phone 3D that projects hologram and makes you feel like Tom Cruise in Minority Report?
  4. Navigation via your eyes. Another hard to believe feature. Please Note: Amazon does have a patent for Gesture Recognition and visual input. This was approved around June 6th, 2010. So, hard to believe as it might be, Amazon might really have a Kindle Phone 3D with retina-tracking technology and gesture recognition.
  5. Overall Strategy: WSJ says that Amazon will release a set-top box (Kindle TV), a smartphone (Kindle Phone), a Kindle Phone 3D, an audio-streaming device (Kindle Audio? Kindle Stream? Air Kindle?). These are known as the Alphabet Projects – Project A, B, C, and D.
  6. WSJ says some or all of the devices could be shelved because of performance, financial or other concerns. Way to give yourself an out WSJ.
  7. WSJ also thinks the overall aim is to expand Amazon’s reach into content distribution.

That’s a lot to digest.

Will Amazon release a Kindle Phone?

We’ve discussed Kindle Phone and Kindle Phone Release Date before. This seems quite likely.

Will Amazon release a Kindle TV?

Again, we’ve covered Kindle TV and Kindle TV Release Date and chances of it arriving before. This seems possible. It might not arrive until 2014.

Will Amazon release a Kindle Phone 3D? With Retina-Tracking and Holographic 3D images and Gesture Recognition?

I find this really, really hard to believe. Amazon has the patent for Gesture Recognition and Eye Tracking. It’s had it since June, 2010. However, does Amazon have the ability to introduce game-changing hardware? Kindle Fire and eInk Kindle have both been follow-ups to existing products from competitors. All the components and the screen technology were well established (it wasn’t brand new). I don’t see any 3D holographic screen devices Amazon can iterate on. Same for gesture tracking. Kinect exists. However, I doubt Amazon has access to Microsoft’s Kinect technology.

How on Earth is Amazon going to introduce a market-changing (perhaps even market-transforming) Kindle Phone 3D with not just one but 3 almost completely new technologies?

Retina-Tracking. Almost completely new. Since Kinect technology isn’t licensable.

Holographic 3D images. Completely new.

Gesture Tracking. Completely new.

If Amazon ships a Kindle Phone 3D then it deserves a ton of credit. Much as it pains me to say this, this seems like something Apple would do, not Amazon. Wouldn’t that be funny – if Apple introduces a boring iWatch while Amazon launches a genre-transforming Kindle Phone 3D.

Filed under: Kindle Phone | Tagged: , , , | 5 Comments »

Kindle Family – All Kindles So Far

Posted on April 28, 2013 by switch11

Let’s paint a picture of what the Kindle Family looks like, and what it might look like by end of 2013.

Kindle Family As It Currently Stands

Right now, as of April 28th (2013), we have -

The eInk Kindles

  1. Kindle 1. The original Kindle. The Kindle that started it all. Can you believe it came in at $399. The tech media were having a field day – claiming it would sell only 40,000 units. That no one reads. And other such nonsense.
  2. Kindle 2. The second Kindle. This did a good job but not a great one. It was more of a Kindle 1.5 than a Kindle 2.
  3. Kindle 3. This was a major step forward. Perhaps the best eInk Kindle made so far. This was also the last Kindle with a physical keyboard (Amazon now refers to it as the ‘Kindle Keyboard’). It is, in my opinion, by far the best eInk Kindle made.
  4. Kindle WiFi. Not exactly Kindle 4. More like a Kindle Economy Edition with neither a keyboard nor a touchscreen.
  5. Kindle 4 (Touch Kindle). This was not really an improvement over the Kindle 3. However, the addition of Touch makes it the ‘next Kindle’ after Kindle 3 – hence Kindle 4.
  6. Kindle 5 (Kindle Paperwhite). This, again, wasn’t really much of an improvement over the Kindle 3, apart from the light. The addition of the lighted screen makes it the ‘next Kindle’ after Kindle 4 – hence Kindle 5.

The Kindle Fire Tablets

  1. Kindle Fire. The first Kindle Fire. It was rushed to market to prevent B&N’s Nook Color and Nook Tablet from eating up the market. A solid success. Amazon now wants to refer to this as ‘Kindle Fire Original Edition’ (Because calling it Kindle Fire 1 would be too straightforward).
  2. Kindle Fire. This is the newer version of the Kindle Fire. This was improved over the first Kindle Fire, but not by much. It’s such a slight improvement that perhaps we should just call it Kindle Fire 1.1.
  3. Kindle Fire HD. This is the real Kindle Fire 2. It adds an HD screen, great speakers, and several other improvements. An actual solid successor to the Kindle Fire, and worthy of being called ‘Kindle Fire 2′.
  4. Kindle Fire HD 8.9“. This should have been called the Kindle Fire Max or Kindle Fire X (something simple). I consider this an entirely separate device (since it’s a 9″ Tablet). We’ll disregard the various variants i.e. Kindle Fire X with LTE or without LTE – it’s all just one line of 9″ Kindle Fires.

Where does that leave us?

With 6 Kindles and 4 Kindle Fires in all.

With 2 lines of eInk Kindles – the Kindle line and the Kindle WiFi (Kindle Economy Edition) line.

With 2 lines of Kindle Fires – the Kindle Fire line and the Kindle Fire X (9″ screen) line.

The newest devices in each line are -

  1. Kindle 5 (Kindle Paperwhite) is the newest eInk Kindle.
  2. Kindle WiFi (Kindle Economy Edition) is the newest economy eInk Kindle.
  3. Kindle Fire 2 (Kindle Fire HD) is the newest Kindle Fire.
  4. Kindle Fire X (Kindle Fire HD 8.9″) is the newest 9″ Kindle Fire.

Is there really a need for each of these 4 Kindle lines?

The need for the 7″ Kindle Fire line and the main eInk Kindle line is very well established. One is Amazon’s main Tablet and one is Amazon’s main eReader.

Given how frequently Amazon is cutting the prices of the Kindle Fire X (HD 8.9″), it’s quite possible it might be discontinued. There is a market for 9″ and 10″ Tablets – However, it seems to be shrinking as people go for the lower priced, more convenient 7″ and 8″ Tablets.

Amazon needs a new Kindle Fire X (X2?) to compete against the iPad. However, the market for iPad and 10″ Tablets is shrinking so it might just be better for Amazon to concentrate on its main 7″ Kindle Fire line.

Kindle WiFi (Kindle Economy Edition) is needed for people who want a super-cheap eInk Reading device. Amazon might consider simplifying and going with just one Kindle line – However, that would lead to a lot of lost sales. Casual Readers don’t want to pay more than $50 to $100 for a dedicated eInk eReader. Amazon needs something for them.

So we may see the end of the 9″ Kindle Fire Tablet, but the other three lines of Kindles should be around for a while.

Kindle Family with a Simpler Naming Scheme

The current naming scheme for Kindles is a bit complicated – better suited for algorithms.

Here are the names Amazon has for its currently selling eInk Kindles and Kindle Fires. Next to each is my suggested ‘simple’ name.

  1. Kindle Keyboard 3G, Free 3G + WiFi, 6″ eInk Display. That’s ridiculous. Better Name: Kindle 3.
  2. Kindle (for the Kindle WiFi). This is a good choice. Very sweet and simple.
  3. Kindle Paperwhite. Better Name: Kindle 5.
  4. Kindle Paperwhite 3G. There’s no need to have this separately.
  5. *****
  6. Kindle Fire Tablet. Better Name: Fire. Just Fire or Kindle Fire is good.
  7. Kindle Fire HD Tablet. This is a decent name, actually. HD is easy to understand. Better Name: Kindle Fire 2.
  8. Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ Tablet. Better Name: Kindle Fire X.
  9. Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ 4G LTE Wireless Tablet. There’s no need to have this separately. LTE is an optional add-on.

Amazon needs to focus on easy to remember, simple names that make sense. Choosing ‘Kindle’ for the Kindle WiFi is a good step. Amazon should consider doing similar easy names for all other Kindles. For Example: Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ is really awkward. Who on Earth puts 8.9″ as part of their name?

Kindle Family 2013 Likely Additions

Let’s go with our own simple names (Amazon is probably going to name its phone – Kindle Phone 3G with Voice Calls and Voice Mail and Almost as Good as iPhone for Half the Price).

Firstly, as Larry mentioned in the comments for an earlier post, Amazon should use the Amazon brand whenever possible and not the Kindle brand. Yes, people at Amazon are all emotionally attached to ‘Kindle’, plus all devices are made by Lab 126 (which also made Kindle). However, people understand and love ‘Amazon’. Just like Apple didn’t name its tablet the iPod iPad, let’s not name the Amazon Phone the Kindle Phone. It just causes confusion and kills the opportunity to ride on the trusted Amazon brand.

Here are the likely additions to the Kindle Family in the rest of 2013 (with suggested names suited for use by human beings) -

  1. Kindle Phone Medium Range – Amazon Phone. Or something even shorter like APhone or UPhone.
  2. Kindle Phone High End – Amazon Phone Premium or Amazon Phone+. Or perhaps just keep the name the same. Just have it as a variant of the APhone.
  3. Kindle TV – Amazon TV. This is short and sweet and makes sense.
  4. Kindle TV with Special Features etc. – Amazon TV X or Amazon TV Plus or Amazon TV+.
  5. New eInk Kindle with HD screen - Kindle 6 or Kindle HD. That’s it. No ‘Kindle Brighter Shade of PaperWhite’ or any of that nonsense.
  6. I think there’ll be two Kindles released. For the Economy Model it’s best to just name it Kindle (the current name) or Kindle Mini and stick with that.
  7. New Kindle Fires – Kindle Fire 3 (or Fire 3) and Kindle Fire X2 (or Fire X2). I’m assuming Amazon will continue with a large screen Kindle Fire.

It’s quite possible that Amazon makes a royal hash of things and introduces 4-6 different phone models. In case it does, it should try and keep things simple and have just 1 or 2 phone names (APhone and APhone+) and have variants.

For Kindle TV (Amazon TV), it’s hard to mess things up. However, let’s hope Amazon sticks with a name that’s easy to remember and also serves as good solid branding.

Kindle Family at the end of 2013

At the end of 2013 we’ll probably have -

2 Lines of eInk Kindles (with one holdover)

  1. Kindle 6 – the newest eInk Kindle. The successor of the Kindle Paperwhite. Very conveniently it’ll be a 6″ screen too.
  2. Kindle WiFi – Perhaps even cheaper at $49. The name will probably just be ‘Kindle’.
  3. Kindle Keyboard (a holdover). Since Amazon hasn’t made a better Kindle, and since keyboards are critical for some readers, I don’t see this being discontinued.

3 Lines of Kindle Fires

  1. Kindle Fire - A newer version of the lower range Kindle Fire.
  2. Kindle Fire 3 – The successor of the Kindle Fire HD.
  3. Kindle Fire X2 – The successor of the Kindle Fire HD 8.9″. This isn’t guaranteed, just likely.

2 Lines of Kindle Phones

  1. Amazon Phone (APhone? UPhone?). The lower end Kindle Phone.
  2. Amazon Phone Plus (APhone+? UPhone+?). The higher end Kindle Phone.

2 Lines of Kindle TV

  1. Amazon TV. The $50 Kindle TV set-top box.
  2. Amazon TV+. The $50 Kindle TV+ set-top box with a subscription and special options. This might be the same hardware as Amazon TV or it might be completely different hardware with DVR capabilities and live TV.

Other Products?

It’s not very likely, yet entirely possible, that Amazon releases other Kindle hardware. Will have to think more about what Amazon might have in the works. An innovative color screen device (either Tablet with color eInk screen or eReader with color eInk) is quite possible. Amazon did buy Liquavista from Phillips Netherlands.

For now, it seems the Kindle Family at the end of 2013 will consist of Kindles, Kindle Fires, Kindle Phones, and Kindle TV.

Filed under: evolution, kindle | Tagged: , , | 7 Comments »

Kindle Phone Release Date Estimates, Kindle Phone Predictions

Posted on April 25, 2013 by switch11

Kindle Phone is the second big Kindle family device rumored to be arriving this Fall (Fall 2013). The first is Kindle TV.

Let’s ponder over a few things -

  1. What do we know about Kindle Phone?
  2. What will the Kindle Phone Release Date be?
  3. Why Amazon needs a Kindle Phone.
  4. How will Kindle Phone do?
  5. What impact will Kindle Phone have on other companies?
  6. Kindle Phone Predictions.

Let’s start with what people are speculating about Kindle Phone.

Kindle Phone – What we know

Firstly, just to be clear, these are all rumors. None of this is guaranteed, regardless of how likely and logical some of it might seem.

Rumors and Speculation from earlier years -

  1. Way back in October 2011, David Carnoy at CNet was speculating about a Kindle Phone. He thought Amazon’s Lab126 would make a Kindle Phone and it would be premium quality, but be offered free with a 2-year subscription. He also thinks, and this makes sense, that it would be based on Android. That Amazon’s Android App Store is primarily meant to feed Kindle Phone (when it arrives).
  2. Even before that, in 2010, New York Times talked about a Kindle Phone. NY Times had brought up the notion of Lab126 building a Kindle Phone to compete with Google and Apple.
  3. In November 2011, Harry McCracken at PC World talked about Amazon making a Kindle Phone that was the iPhone of the Android world. He even suggested that Amazon might buy wireless service in bulk from Sprint or Verizon and resell it in a hassle free form. I think it’s a splendid idea (except for the fact that Sprint and Verizon might be in no rush to play along).

Newer rumors and speculation -

  1. At Fool.com (a strange name for an investment site), Adam Levy talks about the high probability of success of a Kindle Phone. He cites Xiaomi (a Chinese cell phone company that sold 7.5 million phones last year) as an example of the success possible by selling high-end phones at cost. Xiaomi plans on making money by selling services to these Xiaomi phone users. Adam Levy thinks this model fits perfectly with Amazon’s (it does).
  2. A few of the other suggestions in the Fool.com article seem strange. The claim that Kindle Fire has captured 22% of the US Market seems sketchy. Perhaps the sales results for the Holiday Quarter (when Amazon is supposed to have captured 22% of sales for the quarter) are being confused with total market share. The suggestion that Amazon might capture 22% of the US phone market is also a bit speculative.

There are lots of other articles we could look at. However, they circle around the same points.

Basically, all of Amazon’s moves are now being scrutinized as ‘possible signs’ that Amazon is getting ready to release a Kindle Phone.

Let’s move on to exploring when Kindle Phone might arrive, why Amazon needs a Kindle Phone (Note: Needs, not Wants), and how Kindle Phone will do.

Kindle Phone Release Date Estimates

Amazon has been running Amazon Wireless for quite a while now. One huge benefit is that Amazon can collect data about what subscribers want and what would make them buy a Kindle Phone.

Kindle Phone Release Date Estimates are tricky because -

  1. Past Amazon Device Release Dates suggest we’ll see – An October Kindle Phone Announcement and a November Kindle Phone release date.
  2. However, we don’t know what information Amazon has gathered from Amazon Wireless. Perhaps Amazon has figured out that the best time to launch would be in the summer lull – when the next iPhone is still far, far away. Perhaps it’s figured out that the Holiday Season is indeed the best time to launch.
  3. After considering all the factors, my bet would be that we’ll see a September Kindle Phone announcement and an October Kindle Phone release. That Amazon would try to release as close to Holiday Season as possible, but also try to come out a month or two ahead of Apple’s new iPhone. That has the dual benefits of reaching a large amount of people waiting to update their phone AND making sure Amazon can release as close to the Holiday Season as possible.

Now that Steve Jobs isn’t around, the Apple risk isn’t quite as high. However, releasing before Apple’s announcement would still be a good idea.

Why Amazon needs a Kindle Phone

Two main reasons. Profit. Profit.

  1. Firstly, consider the amount of Profit Apple and Samsung are making from smartphones. It’s almost absurd. We’re talking about $2 to $3 billion a month in profits. So, both #1 and #2 in the Smartphone market are making out like bandits.
  2. Secondly, consider the amount of Profit AT&T and Verizon are making from data plans. AT&T made $3.4 billion last quarter. That’s $3.318 billion more than Amazon. Amazon already has the Cloud. It already has the customer accounts. It already has the OS. It already has the App Store. All it needs are phones and wireless bandwidth.

We’re talking about an absolutely incredible amount of profit in both smartphones and in smartphone data plans.

Perhaps Amazon sees another market (twin market?) where it can destroy profits to gain customers. However, my bet would be on Amazon seeing an opportunity to go from a profit averse company to a profit loving company. Sooner or later Amazon will go after the data plans. By end of 2013, Amazon will go after Apple and Samsung.

Amazon Needs Kindle Phone.

There are very few other super high profit businesses that are right in front of Amazon. Advertising is one, and Amazon is already setting up things to take a giant share of that. Phones and Data Plans are two beautiful cash cows and Kindle Phone might be Amazon’s best opportunity to either keep them for itself, or destroy them and weaken two of its biggest rivals significantly.

How will Kindle Phone do?

Well, there are two possibilities -

  1. Amazon goes with a profit destroying approach. It sells phones at cost, sells data plans at close to cost, and focuses on adding Amazon customers and/or Prime subscribers to profit from in 2159.
  2. Amazon goes with a profit focused approach. It sells one out of phones and data plans at close to cost, and gathers profits from the second. In effect, it tries to profit from phones and plans now.
  3. If Amazon goes with the former approach, it’ll add a lot of customers. It will, however, lose the opportunity to add one huge cash cow. Perhaps even two huge cash cows.
  4. If Amazon goes with the latter, it’ll be a lower number of sales and a slower ramp-up in total Kindle Phone sales. It will, however, add huge Cash Cows. Cash Cows which might keep Amazon alive when the next big crisis and/or economic depression hits.

Quite frankly, I don’t see any scenario where the Kindle Phone doesn’t do well. That’s highly unlikely. Lots of people are willing to try out a Kindle Phone. Lots and lots of people.

Amazon has already demonstrated it can make decent hardware (not spectacular, but decent). Amazon has already gathered huge amounts of data on phone and phone plan purchases. Most importantly, Amazon already has a HUGE customer base that trusts Amazon. Now it just has to deliver a decent phone and a decent plan and it’ll be set.

Prediction: 10 to 20 million Kindle Phones sold in 2013.

Note: This is assuming Amazon goes with either a Phone that is close to cost OR it goes with both Phone and Phone Plan that are close to cost. In the extremely unlikely event that Amazon tries to pull off an Apple, Kindle Phone sales will be poor.

What Impact will Kindle Phone have on Other Companies?

This is the very interesting part.

Profit focused companies like Apple and Microsoft must wonder about the motives of companies like Amazon.

Kindle Phone is going to destroy profits and/or steal them.

If Amazon goes with a cheap Kindle Phone with cheap data plans then a LOT of companies will see profits go down – Apple, Samsung, AT&T, Verizon, and more.

If Amazon goes for profits, it’ll still lead to some customers leaving Apple and Samsung. Those two companies will definitely feel the pain.

It’s a lose-lose situation for Apple and other smartphone companies. It might be worst for companies like HTC and Nokia which don’t have a very strong US brand. It’s tough enough to compete against Apple (almost impossible in the US) and Samsung (so strong worldwide, somewhat strong in the US). Now you have Amazon which is incredibly strong brand-wise in both US and UK. 2 of the 5 most important markets gone.

A Kindle Phone would mean that the top 3 phone brands in the US would be – Apple, Samsung, Amazon/Kindle.

Makes things incredibly difficult for Nokia and HTC and Android Phone makers in general. Problems for Blackberry too as Amazon will steal some market share from Blackberry too.

Definitely a lot of bloodshed if Kindle Phone comes in at a low price.

Kindle Phone Predictions

Here are our Kindle Phone Predictions -

  1. Kindle Phone is announced in September 2013 and ships in October 2013.
  2. Two Kindle Phones. A mid-range model that is free on a 2-year plan and a premium model that will be $99 to $149 on a 2-year plan.
  3. Special Data Plans that come with Kindle Phones. First Year at a ridiculously low price with the 2nd and subsequent years at a normal data plan type rate.
  4. Kindle Phone will do very well. If Amazon offers just a low-price high-end phone it’ll sell 5 to 10 million units. If Amazon offers it for $0 with a 2 year plan, it might sell 10 million or more units. If Amazon offers both a low priced phone ($0 to $50 with a 2-year plan) and a reasonable plan, then we might see 12 to 20 million sales. Note: This is for the Holiday Quarter, and it assumes there is pent up demand for a well made yet cheap Android phone which comes with a decent data plan.
  5. Kindle Phone will have a material impact on Apple and Samsung profits. Kindle Phone will have a very large impact on all other phone makers.
  6. Kindle Phone plans will have a small but not insignificant impact on AT&T and Verizon IF they are low-priced and/or offered without long contracts.
  7. Kindle Phones will also be sold without contract but with a Prime Membership for $199 to $249 for the mid-range Kindle Phone and $299 to $349 for the premium Kindle Phone.

Kindle Phone is going to have much more of an impact than Kindle Fire. Kindle Phone gives Amazon an opportunity to flex its infrastructure muscle and also show off its ability to sacrifice today’s profits for tomorrow’s promise. Prediction: Amazon will go all-out and deliver a pair of low-price, high-quality Kindle Phones with very compelling data plan options. We’ll see 10 to 20 million Kindle Phones sold by end fo 2013.

Filed under: Kindle Phone | Tagged: , | 11 Comments »

Kindle Fire HD 8.9″, Kindle Phone Details – Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ Live Updates

Posted on September 5, 2012 by switch11

Update Devices and my Reviews/Thoughts available now.

When available, Kindle Fire 2 and (if it exists) Kindle Fire 2 10″ will be available at Amazon.

When available, Kindle PaperWhite (Kindle Touch with Light) will be available at this link.

Live Blog – Kindle Fire 2, Kindle Phone, Kindle Touch 2, 10″ Kindle Fire Conference

Status at 3:06 pm PST: Thanks for following along. The last announcement was the Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE with its amazing data plan. 250 MB a month and 20 GB cloud storage for just $50 for the first year.

Amazon still doesn’t have links live yet. So waiting to see when links and information will go live.

Status at 2:44 pm PST: Kindle Fire HD is available in 7″ and 8.9″ models.

Status at 2:43 pm PST: The screen looks pretty amazing. Mr. Bezos is showing off a magazine and it’s very pretty. Even zoomed up it’s very clear. Will have to see it in person. But looks like a major winner so far.

Status at 2:41 pm PST: The Kindle Fire HDs look really good. Price will be critical. Can Amazon bring them in at $199/$249 and $299/$349. That would be a major win.

Status at 2:38 pm PST: Don’t know what to think of the Reading Immersion and X-Ray for Movies features. Guess some people must like such stuff. WhisperSync for Games – As if people don’t waste enough time already on games. Now they can synchronize their time wasting.

Status at 2:29 pm PST: More details on Kindle HD 8.9″. Including – very fast processor, HD screen with 1920 by 1200 resolution, double antennas, dolby digital plus, stereo speakers, 254 ppi screen, 25% less glare due to laminated touch sensor, dual WiFi.

Status at 2:14 pm PST: My thoughts on Kindle Touch 2 (Kindle Paperwhite) and Kindle HD 8.9″. The latter is not officially announced yet. For both will add details as more details are revealed.

Status at 1:53 pm PST: Kindle Paperwhite being shown. 4 years of R&D. Jeff Bezos talking about longer battery life than Nook with GlowLight. HD screen with 212 ppi. 25% more contrast. 62% more pixels (compared to Kindle Touch presumably). 9.1 mm thick.

Light = Flattened out Fiber Optic Display.

Status at 1:43 pm PST: Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ confirmed (our EXCLUSIVE scoop). So Amazon is releasing a 8.9″ Kindle Fire HD in two models – regular and 4G. The Press Conference is finally starting.

Status at 1:17 pm PST: 2 year and 3 year protection plans for Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Paperwhite 3G are showing up at Amazon. That confirms that Kindle Touch 2 will be in WiFi and 3G versions.

Status at 1:14 pm PST: CNet has a really good Kindle Fire 2 Live Blog with Live Video. Worth a look.

Status at 1:10 pm PST – People are entering the Aeroplane Hangar. Wouldn’t it be funny if Jeff Bezos shows off an inter-planetary aeroplane instead of a Tablet. Wonder how many of the journalists would be like – Show us something meaningful like a shiny gadget we can use to impress our friends. What’s all this space travel nonsense. It’s so 1960s.

Status at 12:59 pm PST – Lots of live blogs are kicking off. I’ll be looking at the most interesting ones (Engadget, ABC (to see a non-techy perspective), The Verge (very Apple biased in an amusing & delusional sort of way), GigaOM) and writing updates.

Status at 12:52 pm PST. For all those people wondering WHY Amazon would want to get into phones, consider this – Samsung sold 20 million Galaxy SIIIs in the first 100 days of availability. Now consider this – A user with a Kindle Phone is a user who is more likely to buy EVERYTHING from Amazon. As a bonus Amazon doesn’t have to advertise and doesn’t have to pay Google for traffic and isn’t dependent on someone else. In most industries people pay $100 to $200 to $500 for a customer acquisition. If Amazon can do it by selling cheap Kindle Fires and Kindles and possibly Kindle Phones – then all the more better for it.

Status at 12:26 pm PST. We are one hour away. I’ve never seen ANY kindle event get even close to the number of live blogs. Amazon’s doing something right on the PR/Buzz front. Everyone from ABC to Engadget to Wired to Niche Blogs are doing live blogs.

*******************

From Yesterday:

This post is a Kindle Fire 2, Kindle Phone Preview PLUS Live Blog PLUS Follow-Up post.

To be Updated Tomorrow. Starting approximately 10:30 am PST.

From some Aeroplane Hanger in California we’ll find out about Kindle Fire 2 and Kindle Touch Paper White. Perhaps even about Kindle Phone.

ORIGINAL POST

Tomorrow, on the sixth day of September of the year 2012, Amazon is going to astonish us with how amazing the new Kindle Fire 2 and the new Kindle Phone and the new Kindle Touch are. Of course, it might also disappoint us by giving in to its incremental update gone crazy philosophy (Kaizen done wrong).

Regardless, this post will be updated continuously with the latest updates.

  1. Before the Conference: All the little interesting things that come up. Such as rumors of Foxconn manufacturing the Kindle Phone in the very same factories that manufacture iPhones.
  2. During the Conference: The Reveal. Kindle Fire 2 – Almost Certainly. Kindle Phone – perhaps. Kindle Touch with Light (aka Paper White) – Yes, undoubtedly.
  3. After the Conference: Details as photos and videos and oohs and aahs and ‘but it doesn’t have volume buttons’ articles show up everywhere.

Before the Kindle Fire 2, Kindle Phone Conference

12:26 pm EST Update – Shifting post format to feature actual conference at the top. It’ll be in reverse cronological order.

11:51 am EST Update (September 6th): Kobo has announced a new Tablet and a new eReader. Digital Trends has mentioned that the new Nook Tablet 2 might be out by end September (highly unlikely in my opinion) and would run Windows 8 (also highly unlikely, given Windows 8 launch date is October 28th).

12:23 am EST Live Update (September 6th): The Kindle Fire 2, what might be a Kindle Fire 10″ with a clip-on keyboard, Kindle Paperwhite Ad:

It seems possible that a 10″ Kindle Fire will be released. Awesome! Would be great to see Amazon step up to the plate and take on the Animated Page Turns Company.

11:01 pm EST Update:

  1. Strong Rumors (strong = lots of, not necessarily realistic) of an Amazon TV or set top box.
  2. Claims that a Kindle Phone is confirmed. The Verge has a photo of a supposed Kindle phone that is showing the Amazon Android App Store. Has it fallen again for a photoshopped fake?
  3. Amongst the comments at The Verge is the hypothesis that Amazon might try to be its own carrier and push a low priced Smartphone. Sounds logical. However, it also sounds awfully brave.

I do think that a Kindle Phone will be called Kindle Blaze.

The most interesting tidbits that have been revealed in the last week or so -

  1. Dual Screen Kindle Phone - the top highly unlikely and yet highly appealing rumor.
  2. Logs showing a Kindle Fire KFTT with Android 4.0.3 as OS (Ice Cream Sandwich). Will Kindle Fire 2 be using Android 4.0.3? What does the TT in KFTT stand for. Triple Touch?
  3. B&N Nook Tablet 2 with 243 dpi screen (which would mean amazing clarity). Interesting how B&N leaks this information one day before the Kindle Fire 2 Announcement.
  4. Kindle Fire 2 $149 model with Ads looking more and more likely.
  5. Kindle Fire 2 with specs matching Google’s Nexus 7 Tablet.
  6. Kindle Fire 2 with dual screens on opposite sides – eInk on one side, LCD on the other.
  7. Foldable Kindle Fire 2.
  8. Stuff.tv lets us know that a Kindle Phone is likely as Foxconn has probably been tasked with making one and Amazon has been hiring Windows Phone executives.

We cover Kindle Fire 2 Rumors extensively in our Kindle Fire 2, Nook Tablet 2 Predictions post.

After the Kindle Fire 2, Kindle Phone Conference

Kindle Fire 2 Analysis, Review of Kindle Fire 2 Features. Thoughts on Kindle Phone (if announced).

So bookmark this page and check back tomorrow at 10:30 am PST (or anytime after that).

Filed under: Kindle Fire | Tagged: , , | 3 Comments »

Kindle Phone with Dual Screens? Double the Pleasure or Double the Trouble?

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Max

Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a Kindle, It’s a Phone, Maybe it’s a SmartPhone with Dual Screens!

Stuff’s online magazine, Stuff.tv, and Pocket-Link.com are both reporting that E-Ink, the company responsible for providing the ‘paper’ technology used by e-book devices such as Kindles, has been demonstrating a new form of their technology to be used in smartphones.

The new prototype was exclusively shown to the people from Stuff at the IFA Trade Show in Berlin. The IFA or Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin is one of the oldest industrial exhibitions in Germany. It is also one of world’s leading trade shows for consumer electronics, where exhibitors can present their latest products and developments to the general public.

This new technology would allow dual screens on a smartphone. One side would be your basic smartphone LCD touchscreen featuring phone functions and apps. The flip side would be an e-book reader, utilizing E-Ink’s ultra-low power consuming ‘electronic paper’.

Dual Screen Smartphones
Photo courtesy of The Digital Reader

Dual Screens – What’s the Point?

Having an eBook reading component makes sense on an Amazon Smartphone. It’s a brilliant way for Amazon to combine two of its technologies — Amazon Smartphone and Kindle. Take in account that the battery consumption of the E-Ink display is extremely low and the displays themselves are thin, making them ideal for reading on your phone. Stuff suggested that one of the main benefits to its inclusion on a smartphone would be that important information could be left on screen indefinitely, even when your battery is very low.

Stuff.tv reported:

E Ink’s prototype has only just been shown to mobile manufacturers but the response was good. One anonymous mobile phone company is working on installing the second screens already.

According to The Digital Reader, Nicolas Charbonnier, AKA Charbax , from ARMdevices.net, was able to meet with the head of marketing of E-Ink at the IFA in Berlin. You can watch Charbax’s interview with Sri Peruvemba, Chief Marketing Officer of E- Ink, as he demonstrates the use of a dual screen smartphone (using mockups) at the IFA in Berlin here. The piece is 31½ minutes long in all – but the section regarding a dual screen smartphone begins right around 15:35.

The video itself showcases all sorts of prototypes from E-Ink, including a flexible screen and their newest prototype a device with a color lighted screen at 10:36.

Switch11′s Note: Lest you get too excited, eInk has been showing color eInk prototypes since 2005 (yes, since 2005).

Is Amazon Planning to Use This Technology in Kindle Phone?

Amazon has been considering dual screens for quite some time. After some searching at the US Patent and Trademark Office online, I found that Amazon filed a patent application on February 25, 2011.

Abstract
An electronic device including two or more display elements can provide enhanced functionality with improved rates of power consumption. A user can cause information that does not change rapidly to be provided or moved to a relatively static display element, such as an electronic ink display, which enables that information to be displayed for a period of time with little additional power consumption. Similarly, content (e.g., video) that changes rapidly can be displayed on a relatively dynamic display element, such as and LCD or OLED display. Each display can be touch sensitive, such that a user can move content between the displays by pressing on, or making a motion in contact with, at least one of the displays. Various modes can be activated which cause certain types of content to be displayed on the dynamic and/or static display element.

The electronic device that is frequently referred to throughout the patent in Amazon’s words:
…the electronic device is one of a tablet computer, a smart phone, a personal computer, a personal data assistant, and a portable gaming device.  – (Bold type added)

What I found interesting in the image documents that accompany the patent application, are the methods Amazon plans to use to operate the opposite display. One method describes the simple exertion of a minimum amount of pressure or at least a minimum duration – of an item displayed on one of the screens to “push” that item to through to the other side where the item will now be displayed. The other method describes the user “dragging” an item off the current screen, around the edge of the device, and “dropping” the item on the other display screen.

So What Do we Know?

Well, we’ve learned a lot. We learned that E-Ink has some nifty cool technology with the development of the dual screens. We learned that Amazon has been working on developing a patent for items that would use dual screens: e-readers, tablet computers, smartphones, PDAs, Video gaming consoles, portable media players…etc. We also learned why dual screens would be an admirable addition to a smartphone that Amazon may or not be developing.

There’s just one problem – with as much much as we’ve learned, we still don’t know, when-how-why or if any of this new technology will see the light of day on any of Amazon’s devices. Looks like we will just have to wait until September 6th for Amazon’s big press conference in Santa Monica to see what’s new.

Sources:
ARMdevices
Linked In
Pocket-Lint
The Digital Reader
Stuff.tv
The Digital Reader
US Patent and Trademark Office
YouTube
Wikipedia

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