Kindle 2.0 in UK/Canada?
I just happened across an interesting article by switch11 on why some think Amazon might be planning to release Kindle 2 in the UK and Canada.
To sum up the article in short for you; switch11 uses a rash of job postings and recent hires in areas related to international cell phone networks, as well as the delay of the release of Kindle 2, which he supposes might be linked to failed talks with cell networks as a basis for his arguments on whether or not Kindle 2 will be an international release.
For the benefit of those who have never heard of either the Kindle, or electronic ink / paper, here is the quick and dirty to what makes the Kindle so special.
Utilizing a new high-resolution display technology called electronic paper, Kindle provides a crisp black-and-white screen that resembles the appearance and readability of printed paper. The screen works using ink, just like books and newspapers, but displays the ink particles electronically. It reflects light like ordinary paper and uses no backlighting, eliminating the glare associated with other electronic displays. As a result, Kindle can be read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room.The screen never gets hot so you can comfortably read as long as you like.
– excerpt from http://www.amazon.com/
Ever since Amazon’s release of the first generation Kindle I have found myself secretly coveting my vision of what the Kindle could have been.
The Kindle-led E-paper revolution was supposed to make print media obsolete, the days of heading to chapters and buying a physical reproduction of tomes like War and Peace were over. Much to the dismay of the pulp and paper industry a single electronic device would be able to hold a persons entire library. Much like digital music has done to the music industry, ebooks would save us from space commanding books that could get lost or damaged. But this hasn’t happened. In fact most people I talk to haven’t even heard of the Kindle; and that is a shame.
What Holds the Current Kindle Back?
International Support - The current Kindle uses Sprint’s USA-Only high-speed (EVDO) data network to wirelessly purchase and download books. This means anyone outside of the USA is unable to make use of one of the Kindles best features, on demand delivery of digital media directly to the device. If I have to log on to my computer and download the New York Times then transfer it to my Kindle every morning I am no longer interested. Fortunately as switch111 discovered it appears that Amazon has been hiring new people with expertise in international cell networks, notably GSM. This could be a hint for a potential release of Kindle 2.0 in Canada and the UK.
mono-space fonts - The current generation Kindle is handcuffed by an inability to display mono-spaced fonts, fonts where each letter or digit takes up the same amount of line space. Mono-spaced fonts are used most notably for the display of computer code. This inability renders the Kindle useless for computer / programming books, and alienates a potentially massive pool of eager early adopters. Fix this issue alone and Amazon could see the number of Kindles sold increase dramatically.
colour – Even the newspaper prints at least one of its pages in colour. The current Kindle’s lack of a colour display might be the least pressing issue on this list, but I still feel it needs to be addressed.
style - The current Kindle is so bland and unexciting as to have the curb appeal of a 90′s Toyota Corolla. Jeff Bezos of Amazon could learn a lesson from Apple and hire some seriously genius product designers to wrap the Kindle in a skin that makes people who don’t even know what it is want one.
What Could Kindle 2.0 Become?
For starters;
A replacement for aged, damaged, heavy, expensive textbooks. Every child old enough to read would be given one for school and each year the most up to date textbooks would be loaded onto the device. Just think, a single searchable device would replace every textbook in the school. No more half erased drawings and tattered pages, no more missing pages, no more out of date material.
How about the be all end all of computer libraries? I can’t count the number of computer books I have collecting dust on the shelf that are out of date and obsolete. Computers and programming languages change so quickly that by the time the book is in my hands much of it is out of date. I would much prefer to buy a subscription to say, O’Reilly’s Java Kindle Updates, and have access to all of the latest releases of their software development books. Books that could be downloaded to my Kindle in seconds, read, and stored for later search and reference.
In short; everything Kindle 1.0 was supposed to be.
What Do You Think?
Tags: Amazon, Kindle, Kindle 2.0, Technology
January 5th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
I want one so bad. Seriously.
January 5th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
The only thing that would truly hold me back from getting one is the lack of support for monospaced fonts. If I could get computer programming books on it I would order mine today.
Edit: Another key feature that is lacking in the current kindle is the ability to display tables. In its current form tables must be converted to images which are no longer searchable or scalable.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Oh yeah, that’s brutal. The momspaced fonts issue looks to be a huge oversight on amazon’s behalf. I wonder why they did it like this to begin with!?
January 18th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
amazon.ca has recently started selling electronics even though they can’t compete with Future Shop. It is most likely in preparation for selling kindles in Canada. Amazon.com won’t ship any electronic goods to Canada. I bought my kindle off eBay and am glad that I did not wait for the Canadian release. I look forward to buying the next kindle directly from Amazon.
January 18th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Hi Caroline, thanks for commenting! That is indeed exciting news, and could certainly point to a Canadian release of the Kindle. I will have to keep my ears open for more on this one.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:22 am
It is very likely that Kindle 2.0 will be released on Feb. 9. Amazon has called a press conference at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York for Feb 9 and the last time they called a press conference, it was to debut the Kindle. Hopefully, this will be a worldwide release. I think they will sell out quickly because there is a backlog of people waiting for the original kindle. The best strategy would be to check the website at midnight PST although Amazon might wait until the official announcement before releasing anything.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Thanks for the update Caroline, I will most certainly be online at midnight, although since the conference is in New York shouldn’t we be online for midnight EST? Either way if it supports monospaced fonts for computer code I will make sure I get mine on order as soon as it becomes available.
February 4th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Amazon is based in Seattle and it seems to me that they wait until it’s past midnight in all of America (excluding Alaska) before they release something. When I buy ebooks from Fictionwise, the ebook is available midnight EST on its release date. Kindle books are not available even when I check at 1:00 a.m. EST. However, they are available the next morning. It may be that Amazon is still working out kinks in logistics. There was an ebook that was available 2 days at Sony before it was available at the Kindlestore!
Rumour has it that the press conference is set for 10:00 a.m. EST. I’ll be checking Amazon.ca electronic store at midnight, next morning and 10:00 a.m.! Of course, it could all be for naught if the press conference isn’t about Kindle 2.0 after all.
eBay resellers are cutting their “Buy It Now” prices in order to empty their inventory of Kindle 1.0. But the most hopeful sign is that Amazon knows the rumours are heating up and they haven’t moved to deny them whereas they made an official statement last year that Kindle 2.0 will not be released in 2008 when the internet was full of rumours and pictures of a Dec 08 release.
February 4th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Wow, great investigative work. I could almost make another post using just the information you have given. But I will reserve that right for you since you did all of the work.
This is certainly exciting, I can only hope they paid close attention to the feedback they were getting and Kindle 2.0 fills some of the voids.
Thanks again Caroline
February 12th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Shane, thank for the great article. Of course, the Kindle 2 being released in Canada didn’t happen right away so I have a question for Caroline.
Was there any difficulty in putting books onto the Kindle with just the USB cord and a computer? Like you I really want to have one of these, and as a computer guy I don’t have any issues with having to ‘sync’ my Kindle with one of my computers, but if there are problems I might hold off until Amazon puts them out in Canada.
February 14th, 2009 at 2:21 am
Just came across your blog on Google. Interesting post, you bring up a few good things to think about. Good luck with the blog.
February 14th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Hi Sean,
Sorry for the late reply but I just saw your post today. It was absolutely no problem putting the book onto the Kindle via USB cord and my laptop. Some US resident kindle owners are not on whispernet so they use same method that I do.
You must put it into the documents folder or the Kindle won’t recognize it. If you can’t open the book, try de-registering. Delete the problem book. Re-register after 30 min. Re-download the book and it should be okay. A book must recognize the kindle before it opens. Hence the de-register/re-register.
I’ve had to do that about 3 times, I think. I’ve done the hard reset about 1/week because of the kindle freezing. Perhaps Kindle 2 will not have same issue.
HOWEVER, I’m now going to try iPod Touch + both Stanza and eReader. Call me fickle.
February 15th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
For those of you still following this post, as Caroline noted the Kindle will not be offered in Canada or the UK at this point in time. This was of course the big news, but for me at least, there was good news in the Kindle 2.0 announcement that may have slipped by under the radar. Kindle 2 and, via a firmware update, kindle 1 will both now be able to display monospaced fonts and Greek characters. This now means that the Kindle can properly display computer code, and can therefore be of use for reference texts. This was the biggest issue to me, and now that this is solved I plan on getting my name on the wait list for a Kindle 2.
February 26th, 2009 at 9:08 am
There is now a furor at the Amazon Kindle forums because K2′s page is not black and white but more like dark grey on light grey. Some are complaining it is even blurry.
Meanwhile, Canada’s Indigo has launched a webstore for ebooks and edocs at http://www.shortcovers.com. It’s open to North America but they hope to make it world wide soon. It’s geared for iPhone/iTouch and other mobile devices. But best of all, the prices are in Canadian dollars!!!!!!
February 26th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Well I wisth them the best of luck, it sure would be nice to see a major Canadian player in the battle for digital readers. It is too bad they are not releasing a nice e-ink reader as there are already tons of free reading material available online, its getting it onto a device that doesn’t burn out your retinas that appeals to me.
Interesting to hear this about the Kindle 2 screens, one would have thought they would have been extensively tested before being released.
March 4th, 2009 at 11:24 am
the Kindle for iPhone/iTouch is out but it’s only available in the US
March 26th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Its the revolution of newspapers: You have no idea how much I would appreciate international newspaper subscriptions. The trouble to get the ne york times in Toronto, and we’re so close. Not to mention the failing broadcast and print industries we have to mire through here…
March 29th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Does anyone know if magazines will be offered for the kindle? I think newspapers are problematic and some books too as they are shared info sources while the mags I like and my wife like are very different and therefore are not shared..
April 29th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I’ve just purchased a Kindle2 from eBay, for use in the UK and will ‘sync’ via my iMac. Have just had a freid from US herre for dinner and my Wife just fell in love with the Kindle – considering how much she reads, it’s well worth it.
But haven’t figured out how I get a book bought from Amazon.com onto my Mac – it only seems to allow transfer via WhisperNet, but since above you say some people in US aren’t on WhisperNet, what is the process for book download?
May 6th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
I don’t have a Kindle device, but an HP TC1000. Using this device for reading books and magazines is _much_ better than using the standard notebook. It is much more natural. It made me realize that ebooks are the way of the future as long as there is a capbable reader and affordable reader available.
However the Kindle is very expensive.
Should Amazon be subsidizing the price with a subscription model?
May 19th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Definately not, Andre. At least not in my opinion. Although amazon adopting a subscription standard would lower the price of the Kindle unit itself, possible even below $100, the negatives associated with a monthly fee would cost them far too many customers for an as-yet unknown device.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Adding colour would not work using the, energy efficient, electronic ink technology which uses positive/negative charge to create black/white images respectively. Viewing images in colour would bring us back to laptops and PDAs, as well as the energy usage and eye strain associated with them.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Yes Jim, you are correct about the colour not being possible with the current method of using positive and negative charges to change the state of the eInk. As an update to this post I now currently have the Kindle DX and while I don’t miss the colour as much as I thought I would I certainly wish I could buy books in the kindle format in Canada as you really lose a great deal of functionality with PDF’s.
Thanks for your comment Jim!