Our rendering
An insider let slip that two new Amazon Kindle models will hit stores this holiday season, with the first coming as early as October.
The first is an updated version with the same sized screen, a smaller form factor, and an improved interface. The source told us that Amazon has “skipped three or four generations,” comparing the old Kindle to the 1st gen iPod and the new version to something like the sexy iPod Mini.
The second new model, which is shaped like an 8 1/2 x 11-inch piece of paper, is considerably bigger than the current model and should be available next year.
Both models should come in multiple colors and may be aimed at younger readers.
Read more…
I’ll wait for the Kindle Phone.
Oh! Nooooo.. Just bought kindle last week!!!
Shall i return it for Kindle 2.0 ?
Kindle smindle. I constatly read all kinds of books and don’t see anyone buying this thing. The used book market is huge. Does Jeff Bezos/Amazon think everyone is going buy one of these things? get real.
play games at http://www.harryballs.com
Just give me a good PDF reader on the iPhone.
@3 Sam: I agree. A PDF reader and a way to store PDF files on the iPhone. And an SD slot wouldn’t be bad either.
Why carry around something that ONLY allows you to read documents? I understand there is a price difference, but why wouldn’t you just get a small laptop or tablet instead?
Lame. So lame.
Ugh, that pink prototype is so ugly!
@Paul because reading on a laptop screen is far from a pleasant experience.
@5 Paul
Because a small laptop or tablet is not e-ink and for those of us who read a lot, that is a huge draw. I charge my Sony Reader about once every 2 weeks, keep anywhere between 5 to 20 books (depending on what I need/want at any given time), and slip it in one of the smaller pockets in my laptop bag or on my nightstand.
Your asking why not get a small laptop instead of a reading device? That’s like telling the guy who owns an SUV, a car and a motercycle but putts around locally on his moped “Why not buy a motercycle?”
I have a laptop. I paid a lot for it. I paid significantly less for my reader. My reader does precisely what I bought it for. I don’t need ANOTHER laptop. I suspect most who own a Reader or Kindle also own a laptop as well.
As for your “Lame. So lame.” comment… how many laptops do you own and how much reading do you do on them? Do you read from your laptop/tablet in bed? Laying sideways? In the bathroom? On the rail/train? When you’re taking your lunch? If you answer yes to all of those questions then tell me, how often do you charge the batteries for that laptop/laptop. Now tell me how lame we are again. Now rinse and repeat until it sinks in how childish it sounds.
@Phillip
A train! A train!
A train! A train!
Could you, would you,
on a train?
Not on a train! Not in a tree!
Not in a car! Sam! Let me be!
——————–
I get your point. I just hope YOU rinse and repeat that Sony Reader after using it in the bathroom. Ew.
If those TC articles are right, Amazon sold somewhere around 50,000 units to date while iPhone 3G went 1,000,000 units in a week. I’m suprised Amazon is even trying.
Wow, that looks great!
Is it coming to Canada?
iPhone came to Canada.
Why can’t Kindle come to Canada.
@NickeyD Unfair comparison. The Kindle caters to those who are avid enough readers to shell out $350 (plus purchase charges) for a device just for reading. Safe to say the iPhone market is many times greater than the market of book buyers.
It all depends on the experience you want. The Kindle is still more of a “book” reading experience. But I agree with those who said “give me a good pdf reader and a memory slot”.
I find it amusing how some people coming the iPhone to everything. The Kindle is an e-book reader with an e-paper display. It does what it does pretty well and doesn’t pretend to do everything.
I meant *compare*. (Where the hell did I get “coming”?) Anyway, I have a phone that has GPS. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want a device in my car that only does GPS.
Man, those things photograph horribly. The pics always remind me of a prop from an old startrek episode. I’ve never seen one up close, but I hear they aren’t as ugly as the pictures make them out to be.
@Oliver Ortega Chua: Exactly. While Apps might make it seem so, the iPhone isn’t a one-stop digital platform.
I don’t own one, but the Kindle does what I like – it’s a device dedicated to reading. Not to email, not to SMS, not to Super Monkey Ball. It doesn’t try to be everything to everyone, which is its strong selling point: the device itself is a good one that *focuses* on reading and books, so we see the superb E-Paper display on the Kindle.
I like being able to print a page as PDF, email it to the Kindle, and read Paul Graham’s essays on the go. This brings two pluses: 1) you can read it anywhere and 2) it’s on the E-Paper display as opposed to the backlit, eye-straining LCD.
What a perfect device for reading articles from the web.
Want to aim for younger readers? Bring it out for $150 or lower.
Hell, I’d buy one if they sold it for $150.
I’m just hanging out for it to be available to Australia… I was going to buy one a couple of months ago, and then I found out it was NA only.
@NickeyD, your stats are all wrong in every way. And analysts estimate Kindles are selling at about 55k/month:
http://www.time...1821451,00.html
I am wondering why companies announce their latest version maybe around 3-4 months in advance. I agree it creates a curiosity but doesn’t it also kill the sales till the time the new piece is launched ?
For ex who would like to buy any Kindle now when they have already announced a much sexier avatar which will be launching in October or maybe November ?
Would be happy if someone can throw light on this to me.
i love my kindle. I hope they do bring the price down, particularly for the kid’s market, although in my experience my kids love physical books even more than me. My son has been carrying around a HUGE hardcover volume of Calvin and Hobbes that just wouldn’t be the same in an ebook. For me, I love that the kindle is the size of a small single book but holds many many choices for me depending on my mood. I have a couple laptops, but when I open my laptop I end up on gmail, twitter, techcrunch, you know the drill. When I open my kindle, it is with a single purpose. I’ll definitely check out the 2.0 and maybe my kids will get a hand-me-down …
while I do have a thing for pink, the mock-up doesn’t look very appealing. For those seeking color now, I got a sweet red leather cover for my kindle from buymedge.com that is actually user friendly (unlike the standard kindle cover).
I am waiting for 2.0. I really hope it does not turn out to be “1.0 + cheesy mp3 player and fruity colors”. There are plenty of serious features to be added that will make it easy to *read books*.
How about automatic hyperlinks within a book or an article (something like James Burke’s Pinball Effect)? Or links to snippets from other books/references? How about easy dictionary lookup? How about creating an equivalent of “margin notes”? How about community oriented features – e.g. letting me post questions / comments for the author or other readers? The last one sounds like such a obvious next step, since kindle already has “always on” data connectivity..
Thank god.. the first kindle looked haggard. If the picture above is accurate, the kindle 2.0 looks a little better – minus the pink color, not so much retro 70s starwars look….. wow look at http://www.goth...te.blogspot.com
Waiting for kindle model and happy to see that multi color facility.
I really hope they’ll release it in more countries (read: Germany).
I didn’t think it would be possible to make that thing look worse.
I have a Cybook reader since in Canada you cant get the Kindle. THese devices are great and much better than reading on a monitor or on an iphone. Check it out and you will see. With the Cybook you can transfer all your rss feeds to it and read them anywhere you like.
The only problem is the screen sensitivity. Breaks real easy.
This device will also revolutionize the concept of books in academia. As a student, I print hundreds of pages a year, only to be able to read articles on paper, which is more convenient.
Of course! It should be of multiple colors, you know. I would be disappointed if the second model is all pink. Now, that’s totally gay. LOL!
It’s name suggests what I’d like to do to all existing units. Please, Bezos, take it off the Amazon home page. Its ugliness depresses me until I no longer want to buy things.
How about a crowdsourcing design session. Users can sketch some designs and Amazon can pick some ideas.
@NickeyD – The Kindle is a dedicated ebook device, the iPhone is not. You can’t compare the sales.
well Tabitha wild (and others) amazon could barely keep the kindle in stock so there’s plenty of people buying them. sorry you think innovation is lame.
What about price? $399 plus $19 per title is prohibitive IMHO
I didn’t realize how many amazon employees read this site.
My bookworm friends all prefer bookshelves, used book stores, and the pile of books they can point to that they are reading/ read.