In the US...
... it seems the Kindle 2 costs $299
What's the betting that here it will cost £299??
Amazon's Kindle e-book reader will apparently be launched in the UK by Christmas, complete with a virtual network operator and GSM compatibility. The news comes from Mobile Today, who reckon Amazon is about to finalise a launch date, but has been having trouble finding a network operator prepared to host the Kindle's …
hopefully this is kindle dx. HTC Touch HD has been great with 800*480 resolution and i was planning to upgrade to Asus T91.The resolution of T91 put me off.
If we are talking about kindle dx, it will be worth the wait as it gives 9" e-ink experience.I certainly would not need the radio and amazon shop though.
for it to be even considered, it needs to be cheaper than a ninty ds. This is so it can compete in the "expensive gift for elder relative" bracket.
How many people have bought one of these for themselves vs present for someone else?
(goes for both ds and kindle)
Stupid prices aside...
The main thing stopping me from taking this seriously is the same reason i dont want an ipod. Namely being forced to use 1st party drm out of the box. No randomly downloaded pdfs viewable on the ebook reader? Nah. Required software on computer? Depends if i like the software.(i really hate itunes)
If it was user customisable from the start, it would still be too expensive, but i would be more inclined to add it to my christmas list for someone else to pay for.
Before the e-book business shoots itself in the foot like the music business does, it needs to consider a dramatic reduction in prices. With an e-book depriving the purchaser of a physical medium that can be lent to friends, sold in the second-hand market, etc. and costing the seller vastly less to distribute, how can the current prices be justified? It is obviously a lot more effort to generate a pirate copy by scanning a printed work than it is to rip a CD, but once done, the digital version can spread quicker than a virus. The yohoho bookshelf industry is very limited at the moment, then again the number of e-book devices is tiny compared with the number of MP3 players out there.
Will the publishing industry get it right? I suspect greed will once again overcome long-term sense and fuel an increased demand for wooden legs and shoulder-mounted parrots.
The kindle is grossly underestimated, there a news story yet to happen.
Amazon should have asked me, just put it free on a 2 year contract, carphone warehouse will do the rest to get it on 2 year contracts.
Simples.
Paris - because she knows what she wants and how to get it.
"The main thing stopping me from taking this seriously is the same reason i dont want an ipod. Namely being forced to use 1st party drm out of the box."
1) The iPod doesn't require you to use 1st party drm out of the box. You can use non-drm'd formats too, from the get go.
2) Your moral complaint about iTunes has hardly stopped the iPod's success, so there's little reason to think why it would stop the Kindle's success...