Will Amazon Kindle an E-Book Fire?

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Will Amazon Kindle an E-Book Fire?
By Jennifer LeClaire
November 21, 2007 8:48AM

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Amazon's Kindle e-book reader is a wireless device that comes automatically configured to connect to Amazon's Kindle Store through Sprint's EVDO network, which means Kindle users do not need to be near a Wi-Fi hotspot to download books. Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg said the Kindle's always-on feature is "groundbreaking."

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   On Monday, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login launched the Kindle, an e-reader that the company hopes will spark a Book 2.0 revolution. The book-reading world hasn't stopped buzzing about the new electronic device all week. But will it kindle an e-book fire?

Amazon.com didn't step into the e-reader arena lightly. The e-tailing giant worked on developing the Kindle for three years before introducing its attempt to usher in the next era of book publishing to the masses.

"History is littered with the bodies of players in this space who came up with e-book readers that no one wanted or no one wanted to use," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research. "They were all marred by flaws. The Amazon device, while not perfect, really differentiates itself from devices of the past."

No PC Required

The Kindle is a wireless Relevant Products/Services device that comes automatically configured to connect to the Kindle Store through Sprint's EVDO network, which means users do not need to be near a Wi-Fi hotspot to gain access. And there is no monthly wireless fee.

Gartenberg spoke about the device while holding one in his hands. "I don't have to go through the motion of downloading e-books onto my PC and transferring them over to the device," he said. "Everything goes straight onto the device from the Internet. I don't have to worry about whether it works with my operating system. This always-on ubiquitous connected nature, which Amazon is providing for free, is really groundbreaking."

Another thing that differentiates the Kindle from its predecessors and current competitors is the price points. "Pushing the price of best-sellers to $9.99 is very dramatic to customers who may be accustomed to paying $20 or $30 for the same book," he explained.

Compelling Experience

The Kindle's features include paperback-size dimensions, being able to change font size into an instant large-type edition, and the ability to hold several shelves' worth of books, plus hundreds more on a memory card and a limitless amount in virtual library stacks maintained by Amazon. The device is not just for books: Users can subscribe to newspapers and magazines as well.

In addition, the Kindle has built-in access to The New Oxford American Dictionary, which contains over 250,000 entries and definitions, so readers can look up the definitions of words as they read. Kindle customers also have seamless access to Wikipedia and its collection of over two million articles.

"With the search mechanism built into the device, I can find things on the books I might want to look for, which makes it very useful for reference materials, business text, and other types of informational use," Gartenberg concluded. "Then when you talk about things like subscription-based content -- newspapers and blogs all being pushed down to the device like e-mail on a BlackBerry -- you have a very compelling experience."