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?