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In a New York based Event, Amazon just announced a new range of Kindle E-Readers. This is the first time Amazon, primarily an online book seller, has launched a range of products. Previously, it had one Kindle and one Kindle DX. Before this, the last refresh had happened in August 2010. Since then, other ebook readers had caught up and offerings like the B&N Nook were seen to be more attractive.
Here are the devices they announced:
1) Kindle Touch | Kindle Touch 3G – $99, $149
After the Sony E-Reader, B&N Nook and Kobo E-Reader, Amazon has now switched to touch. The reader is still 6 inches in screen size and uses IR Touch Technology, which is different from Capacitive Tech we are used to.
Page turning will be by touching the screen in different areas, similar to the iOS and Android Kindle App. It has multi-touch support, 2 month battery life (at half an hour usage per day), unlimited Cloud Storage, 4GB On Board Memory, and weigh 7.5 and 7.8 ounces. This will be available from end November, just in time for the holiday season.
2) Kindle - $79
They also have a non touch version of the Kindle. In this, they have removed the klunky hardware keyboard that was there on the older version. This cuts an entire inch off the length of the device. Local storage too has been cut into half with 2GB. Battery life is also halved to 1 month of usage. Weigh has gone down from 8.5 to 6 ounces. In this version, there are Amazon Ads’s in the screensaver. Priced at $79 and available immediately, we can see this selling in the millions.
3) Existing Kindle Keyboard
The old Kindle has been renamed the Kindle Keyboard. Earlier, the Ad supported WiFi version sold for $114. This has now been slashed down to $99. Amazon really seems to be pushing their ad-supported devices and this may be the new default. We can’t imagine consumers really minding the extra $40 in savings.
Amazon also launched a tablet, the much remoured Kindle Fire. This will sell for $199 and be available from November 15th.
The refreshed Kindle lineup has once again put Amazon back on the top in the e-reader market. We can expect competitors to be slashing their prices to match up to these any day now. Barnes & Noble shares recently dropped 6.5% to $12.35.
However what really distinguishes Amazon’s products are their integration capabilities. The ability to delete a book from the device but Amazon still keeping a copy of it for you. The ability to mail your Kindle any document wirelessly. The ability to get off one screen and continue on another using WhisperSync. These go beyond hardware. You are buying into the Amazon eco-system. Plus the fact that no other e-readers support 3G and only offer WiFi is another plus.
What do you think of the new lineup? Will you finally be buying an ebook reader?
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