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Rumors abound that Amazon is to supersize Kindle for newspapers
According to sources close to Amazon, the online retail giant is set to debut a larger version of its Kindle reader — and the supersized version could be out as early as this week. This will be music to the ears of dead-tree press publishers, who have been pushing for a more newspaper-friendly version. In fact, several of them have been working alongside tech companies such as Plastic Logic, who are behind the A4-sized version seen above. Both Sony, which has developed a wireless device that downloads daily content, and Apple (gossips have been speculating for some time about a multipurpose tablet computer similar to the iPhone) are said to be in the race.
The reason for this stems from the publishing companies' need to maximize their revenue from their online operations. Many of them see a large-scale reader as a way of charging people for electronic content. When the Mark II version of the Kindle came out earlier this year, it wasn't hard to see what features were lacking — a larger, color screen that would make newspaper and magazine reading easier. If, however, the rumors are correct and we see a bigger Kindle available this week, not every section of the publishing industry will be cock-a-hoop. Tom Wallace, the editorial director of Condé Nast, remains sanguine about it all. "I don't think we would be anywhere near as excited about anything in black and white as we would about high-definition color," he told The New York Times. "But technology changes at a pretty high clip these days, and if we are now in the Farmer Gray days, it will be only a very short while until we are in the video-game era."
With many newspapers, including the Chicago Sun-Times and the LA Times filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, some publishing execs are seeing a large-scale e-reader as the answer to their prayers. "All of us are very worried about how newspapers are going to survive in the next few years if we don't see any turnaround in the economy," says Roger Fidler, program director for digital publishing at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He went on to add, however, that the changeover might be long and protracted. "If these devices had been ready for the general consumer market five years ago, we probably could have taken advantage of them quickly. Now the earliest we might see large-scale consumer adoption is next year, and unlike the iPod it's going to be a slower process migrating people from print to the device."
The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, via Engadget
By ok at 7:08 AM ON 05/04/09
cock-a-hoop? really?
By Kompani at 7:14 AM ON 05/04/09
Living in the UK I have just checked with Amazon and found that the Kindle is only available for sale in the USA providing you kave a US credit card and US postal address (same for all other non US Amazon sites). Can someone recommend a product we can use in the rest of the world?
By bobkoure at 7:43 AM ON 05/04/09
It's only available in the Us because the wireless network it works with ("whisper") is also in the US.
The closest thing to the Kindle 2 might bethe iRex iLiad 2nd version
Res: 1024x768
Wireless: Yes (Lan, WiFi)
Screen: 8.1in
Touch: Yes
Keyboard: No
Mp3: Yes
Memory: 64mb + 128 mb
Slots: USB A, MMC, CF Type II
Battery: 15 hours
Formats: PDF, HTML, TXT, JPG, BMP, PNG, PRC/MOBI, DJVU, FB2, CHM, RTF
They're pricey and the cellular wireless probably won't work where you are...
By Grant MacDonald at 8:37 AM ON 05/04/09
To see & hear my latest book on such a technological marvel from the future ... will be awesome!
I earned the Getty Oil Company shareholders Four Billion Bucks …
On the Reserve acquisition; the way they treat me … it really sucks!
As the Getty inheritors bask in glee;
All I asked for was that they look after me.
Four billion dollars they earned on Reserve …
My fee I surely deserve.
It turns out J.P. Getty may have been a Nazi;
His family even goes back to Germany ….
With Hitler, GÖring & Goebbels he did stand;
While trying to undermine the American land!
For paintings & artifacts he did receive;
With his oil he was able to deceive?
Hoover & the FBI & Roosevelt they knew …
That J.P. Getty & espionage he drew!
Many a young lad and Jew did die
As planes dropped bombs from the sky.
For years while Getty sat in Berlin
He may have committed many a sin.
The ashes and smoke from the chimneys it rose
While old man Getty sat cozy … he chose.
With artwork held tightly under his arm
Still dripping in blood … as the real owner met harm.
Into the ovens & on meat-hooks, bullets between the eyes …
Listen very carefully you can still hear their cries!
While the Gettys sit in England; at their estate at Wormsley;
And Gordon sings in San Francisco …
With his 727 in tow;
The Getty museum sits atop Malibu;
While the corpses of World War 2 scream … “J.P. Getty … We know you!”
By CS at 8:49 AM ON 05/04/09
These publishing execs are blaming a lack of technology and the economy for their woes? Are they truly that far removed from reality?
Who's going to pay hundreds of dollars to hold that monstrosity while trying to eat breakfast and drink coffee in the morning? You'll clearly need two hands to use it, which will make reading the paper a full time job.
Sorry execs, but this ain't gonna help you.
Folks aren't buying the LA Times because the so-called reporting is so biased it's become untrustworthy. We're also tired of the crappy format, having to shake and fold the thing just to read a short article that's split between two or three pages for some reason.
Here's a couple ideas:
Save the opinions for the opinion section, and just report the facts. Trust us to make up our own mind.
Adjust your format so it's suited for the reader instead of the publisher, or better yet, adapt to the technology people ALREADY have, such as cell phones, laptops, Ipods.
Quit blaming other issues for your failure. Like many others, I'm paying around $70 for satellite, $45 for DSL, $75 for cell phone, so a few bucks for a newspaper isn't going to be a dealbreaker, that is, if I find it useful to ME. It isn't, so I don't.
But I promise, I'm not going to buy a Monster Kindle just so I can read your biased, inaccurate articles you amusingly call "news".
There are too many trustworthy sources of news that cost me nothing, other than the minor annoyance of silly ads, like the ones on this page.
Either adjust your business model for today's technology, or go the way of the slide rule and learn how to cook Big Macs.
Captcha sucks
2nd try
CS
By Mr. Gumsandals at 9:13 AM ON 05/04/09
I'm an old school guy who likes getting up in the morning to pick my news up off the ground. I'd hate to see them go the way of the dinosaur but then it may be one of the best things that could happen to the planet. Re a Kindle type daily, the device should be free to the public with the cost being picked up by advertising (in a perfect world, they would be advertising free). Besides making money from advertising, the news tablets would make revenue the traditional way by charging them a user fee that includes the wireless costs. They can foot the initial costs for the free newspaper tablet giveaway by selling their massive presses for scrap or to museums for display.
By Traveler at 12:09 PM ON 05/04/09
Now that's more like it. No useless keyboard and a bigger screen.
By roshinobi at 1:13 PM ON 05/04/09
My Kindle 2 is about as big as I'm willing to deal with. It barely fits into my pockets, if I'm willing to walk funny for awhile. A kindle this size is too cumbersome to try to carry around, at least until they make them flexible.
By Wendy Nelson Tokunaga at 2:34 PM ON 05/04/09
Maybe this is why my local paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, is now offering an electronic version that looks like the physical newspaper? Sounds intriguing. I'm all for anything that will help save newspapers.
By John100 at 3:57 PM ON 05/04/09
It is awesome that there is another, larger screen, Kindle coming out. It is pretty exciting that Amazon is putting a ton of effort into revolutionizing and popularize eBooks.
If they can properly take care of tables, graphics, annotations, that would make this a very powerful tool for textbooks. The impact on newspapers is less obvious mostly because Kindle is a rather expensive device where as traditional newspaper subscription is rather inexpensive.
Anyway, I don't have a Kindle but checked one out from a friend. The screen is very neat and unlike most standard back-lit LCDs. If you get a chance, check it out. It's VERY cool.
On the note about Amazon, I recently came across an interesting table that details the discounts on Amazon.
It is at http://www.uberi.com
Maybe someone will find it useful too, or at least somewhat amusing...
By adam hartung at 10:05 PM ON 05/04/09
Will Kindle be a savior for newspapers? Maybe so. Kindle might be the product to finally get newspapers to realize they have to go digital. Read more at http://www.ThePhoenixPrinciple.com
on your cellphone!
Text DVICE to 72434
editor@dvice.com
adam hartung:
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