Portable eBook Readers

Posts Tagged ‘EBOOKS’

E-book readers and e-books have been hot topics for some time now. In 2009, the market for e-book readers rocketed and one of the most important driving factors was the release of the Amazon Kindle in February of that year. Amazon followed up with the launch of the large format Kindle DX in the summer of 2009 and, in the second half of the year, manufacturers of personal electronics were lining up to release their own e-book readers and secure a share of the emerging market.

It’s a clear indication of just how influential Amazon were – and remain – to the development of the market that almost every new reader announced was instantly christened the “Kindle Killer”. The Kindle reader was, without a doubt, the industry standard that had to be matched and then beaten.

However, there was nothing to suggest that any new reader which would offer serious competition to the Kindle was anywhere in sight. It wasn’t until the launch of the Apple iPad – a very different device – that there was any serious threat to the Kindle’s dominance. Even then, the death of the Kindle as a result of consumers turning to the iPad just doesn’t seem to have materialized. Shortly after the release of the upgraded third generation Kindle in August 2010 Amazon, for the umpteenth time it seems, had sold out of the devices and prospective customers faced a wait of several weeks before their new readers could be shipped.

Of course, the fact that the latest upgrades were accompanied by a further price cut might go some way to explaining the resurgence in the popularity of the Kindle. Amazon’s new Wi-Fi only Kindle was priced at just $ 139. If you consider that the Kindle 2.0 was selling for $ 359 at its February 2009 launch, that’s a very significant price reduction. It takes the Kindle – and e-book readers in general – much nearer to the sub $ 100 impulse buying price range for personal electronic devices. If this was prompted, or possibly hastened, by the release of the iPad is debatable, but ultimately irrelevant. The price reduction would have happened anyway, but there is still a lot of scope for further price cuts – and probably in the not too distant future.

However, whilst Amazon and Apple may be enjoying a good deal of success, the same cannot be said for other e-book reader manufacturers. Several planned e-book readers have either been postponed or cancelled all together. The Plastic Logic Que reader, for example, is pretty well dead in the water. The well established Dutch company Irex went bankrupt when they ran out of cash following poor US sales returns for their Irex reader. Sprint and Hearst’s planned Skiff has been cancelled.

Are we heading towards a polarised market with Amazon dominating the low cost “pure” e-book reader sector and Apple cleaning up in the more expensive tablet computer that sometimes serves as an e-book reader market? There’s a large gap in the prices of the Kindle and the iPad. Is there sufficient space between the two devices, in terms of both specification and price levels, to allow new players to enter the market?

Recently Amazon advised that sales of Kindle books have overtaken the sales of hard cover books. It seems highly probable that e-book sales will catch up with and eventually overtake paperback sales – and probably in the not too distant future. It looks like e-books may well be the future of reading, but just what type of device will you choose to read them on?

Discover the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you customise your reader.

Related iPad and Kindle article

• Another Way to Look at the iPad vs. Kindle Debate (pogue.blogs.nytimes.com)

It’s been a long time coming – or at least that’s how it feels – but Amazon has finally unveiled its new, upgraded and enhanced Kindle electronic reader. Christened the third generation Kindle by Amazon – but more likely to be known as the Kindle 3 – there are a variety of improvements.

The new features of the Kindle 3 seem likely to press all the right buttons for e-book reader fans. It keeps the same 6″ e-ink technology screen, but the display’s contrast has been improved by 50%, which should make reading even better. Page turn speed, already good in the Kindle 2.0, has been made 20% faster.

The overall dimensions of the reader are shrunk by 21% and the weight is a mere 8.7 ozs – 15% lighter. With the Wi-Fi turned off, the battery will now last for a month – even with the Wi-Fi on, a 10 day life is achievable. On board storage capacity has been increased from 2 to 4 GB, enough for approximately 3,500 books. So the new Kindle is lighter, smaller, easier to read, has an extended battery life and allows users to carry a small personal library with them wherever they go. What more could you ask for from a mobile reader?

For many, a color screen would have been one item on their wish list. However, whilst Amazon have been working on a color e-ink technology display, it is not ready for commercial release at the moment. Perhaps this might be incorporated in the next Kindle 4 release. There is no SD slot available for memory expansion, something which some users may also have liked to see. Nevertheless, considering that the memory capacity is now at 4GB, most people won’t suffer too greatly as a consequence of this.

In addition to the various upgrades, Amazon have reduced the price and introduced a new Wi-Fi only model for those who don’t see the need for a 3G connection. Just $ 139 will get you the new entry level Wi-Fi only model, with the 3G plus Wi-Fi version available for$ 189. The new Kindle 3 now comes in graphite, the same as the new DX model, in addition to the original white color.

Amazon has also opened a dedicated UK Kindle store on their British website. UK customers will no longer need to get their Kindles shipped from the States. To begin with the UK Kindle store will have 400,000 Kindle books available. It seems reasonable to suppose that Amazon may consider opening other dedicated Kindle stores for its other “local” websites in France, Germany etc. in the future.

The Kindle 3 seems to be in high demand. Potential customers currently face a 4 week wait before their readers are shipped. It does start to look as if reports of the Kindle’s imminent demise at the hands of Apple’s iPad were somewhat premature. The new upgrades, the lower prices and the fact that there is no monthly payment for connectivity, will be very appealing to many consumers. It looks as though the launch of Amazon’s new Kindle 3 may serve as a timely reminder of just how influential the company is, and will continue to be, in the world of books in general and e-books in particular.

Learn more about the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.

Related Kindle 3 article

• Kindle 3 vs Sony Reader 650 – Thoughts (ireaderreview.com)

I am considering purchasing an ebook reader and I am concerned about getting one that allows downloading ebooks from different sites instead of just B&N or Borders. Also, do any have backlighting?

The Barnes & Noble Nook is the newest electronic book reader on the market and takes things to the next level with both AT&T and WiFi connectivity, support for the largest number of ebooks available, capability to lend books, and more. Let’s take a look at the hardware, navigation, and ebook reading aspects of the device.

I want to purchase an ebook reader. However, I have a collection of ebooks in Microsoft reader, PDF, adobe digital editions, mobipocket reader, and html formats. Is there an ebook reader that will read all of these formats or if I buy one will I then have to buy ebooks in that specific format, such as kindle only?

budurl.com Click to learn more about the best ebook reader – the new Amazon Kindle now with access in over 100 countries.

At the O’Reilly TOC conference, a rep from iRex gave me this demonstration of the iLiad eBook reader.

Get free gadgets and gizmos along with apparel and loads more for JUST doing google searches from swagbucks. Get swagbucks: bit.ly ——————————————————————– Hi guys, this is a semi review and semi heads up about the best eBook reader for the iPhone and iPod touch. A free download from the app store, really nice and slick. In one of my upcoming videos I will show you how to get almost ANY EBOOK FOR FREE, and how to get them on your iPhone/iPod touch. Comment, Rate and Subscribe. Thanks