On February 24, 2009, Amazon.com plans to release a new version of its popular e-reader, the Kindle. The Kindle 2 advances current e-reader technology, helping solidify Amazon’s position as the world leader in e-reader technology.
The USIM Gazette® first reviewed the Kindle in the December 2008 issue, in the article titled Tomorrow’s Technology Now? Trends Shaping Tomorrow’s Media Technology Today - Part 2. As a result, many of the finer points of the Kindle’s feature set will not be repeated here. This article will address the broader ramifications of the Kindle 2 as a media convergence conduit.
On Monday, February 9, 2009, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos introduced the Kindle 2 in New York. At the time, the Kindle 1 (I will refer to the original Kindle that way to improve clarity for the sake of this discussion) was sold out, the second time demand has outstripped supply. Consumers who have placed orders for the Kindle 1, but have not yet received it, will have their orders automatically upgraded to the same-priced Kindle 2.
The Kindle 2 is slimmer and sexier than its two-year-old sibling. At just 0.36-inches thick, it is about the same thickness as a typical magazine. It weighs in at a scant 10.2 ounces, not bad for device with 3G functionality, long battery life and excellent drop-damage resistance. Form factor (size, weight, etc.) and usability (screen size, type legibility, keyboard layout, etc.), strongly influence a “converger’s” marketability. Amazon has improved both the form factor and usability of the Kindle 2 compared to the Kindle 1. For instance, the Kindle 2 is now easier to handle, and features five-way keyboard navigation instead of the scroll wheel used by the Kindle 1. Another bonus in the usability department is the Kindle 2’s new text-to-speech function, which reads aloud whatever appears on the screen, an especially helpful utility for the visually impaired.
The sum of the Kindle 2’s parts exceeds the whole, because the Kindle 2 is more valuable as a delivery system than as a device for reading books. In other words, the Kindle 2 is a nexus of interrelated services, such as a portal to an electronic bookstore currently consisting of over 230,000 titles, a 3G high-speed wireless network at no additional charge, an immersive reading experience provided by its “electronic-paper” screen appearance, and Whispersync technology which extends the Kindle 1’s platform to provide wireless synchronization to mobile phones, enabling devices to communicate with one another so that a Kindle electronic book can be read sequentially from device to device. The Kindle 2 also boasts greater battery life (by 25 percent) than the Kindle 1 and greater book storage capacity (by 700 percent) than the Kindle 1.
Other service-oriented features that set the Kindle 2 apart from 3G devices like cell phones is that there is no annual contract to sign and there are no monthly bills. A case in point is that buying a 3G phone requires signing up for a contract and monthly billing fees. The monthly fees subsidize the cost of the phone.
The Kindle 2 represents a step forward toward media convergence, where content can be mirrored to operate across platforms and delivery technologies, and functions are combined in ways to propel the device into mainstream use. Additionally, Kindle 2 (and similar competing devices such as Sony’s e-reader, the PRS-700BC) may exemplify one of the last best hopes for the failing print newspaper industry, and demonstrate how a successful media convergence ecosystem can function, look and feel.
By Darrell Woody
Gazette Staff Writer