It looks so modern.

That thing was ugly in 1987. FTW is with the old sticker glue on the side?

So...the vacuum tubes plug in the back?

Hey, I kid! I'ts a stunning looking piece of hardware.

But seriously...how do you hook it to the telegraph wires? I can't wait to read the exciting speech Mr. Lincoln just gave!

That's a prototype, you geniuses.

I don't think this is the real thing. It can't be the real thing. Amazon.com has some respect for its customers. Coming out with this reader would be like a huge F.U to customers.

It's a decoy.

Can't be. Where are the flint and bear claw marks?

Fine. I'm sorry. I do most humbly and sincerly apologize for dissing this Kindle object of which we have been shown repetedly without (I don't think) it's prototype status ever being particularly mentioned. It was terribly, terribly wrong of me.

Of course come Monday all will be revealed and it shall be judged by all. Or Tuesday. Whichever.

I love the design. So very snowspeeder.

That thing looks awesome.

Awesome to the max.

@MagnoliaBoy: agreed, looks like something that fell off of johnny 5 before he turned gold.

p.s. FTW="for the win"

No electronic ink, no sale.

Ew, I hope that's a prototype.

@sharkilepsy: And that's bad? Oh right, you want the johny 5 covered in gold. FTW is that? I mean, WTF.

@Atrocious: Heh.@senorbelly: Snowwwwwwwwspeeder. This is the Hoth edition Kindle. The tan tan skin case is awesome.

Looks more like a pile of snowman shit. I like the innovative scroll wheel.

I think I understand what's going on with that design:

"Did that guy just say rings were cool?"

"No, he said they were stupid."

"Cool!"

Anyone else think that these eBook readers are totally overdoing it? I mean, every science-paper-reading grad student in the country would buy one if they were cheap enough, and that's kind of hard for that to happen when manufacturers are competing to get the most pointless features into the thinnest case.

It's not a prototype this is the device. I work for a certain book company and have spoken to members of other departments who have seen this device and say yes it is that ugly.

The problem with these eBook readers is not the readers, it's the pricing of the books. Why should I pay the same price for an eBook of a new release as I do for a real book that had to be printed, bound, and distributed?

I have thousands of 'ebooks' but never read them as I only have a desktop and the idea of toting a laptop around just to read something is nonexistent.
When someone comes up with a reader that is at least the size of a paperback (preferably closes like one) WITH color for any pictures AND accepts ALL formats (pdf, html, lit, etc. I will consider it.
As if this would be so difficult. Rediculous that there are not a multitude of these devices already at market being advertized and displayed proudly everywhere.
The text messaging hype is fing retarded as is the marketing scheme behind it.

Amazon's ugly-as-hell prototype e-Book reader will make landfall—in sleeker form, one hopes—on Monday or Tuesday next week. An attendant marketing blitz involving "a dozen media partners" will hit town at the same time, according to an anonymous source talking to Gizmodo. Why the Kindle?

@chism: The new Sony one is about 7" by 5", with a flip-out cover. You're not going to see colour any time soon as there's no colour electronic paper and an LCD would completely defeat the purpose of the device.

Anyone know if this will support Mobipocket ebook files? Mobipocket works on just about every mobile device platform out there... Windows Mobile (Smartphone AND Professional), Palm, Symbian and BlackBerry. And Mobipocket is owned by Amazon...

When will Amazon give the ebook industry its next black eye? Two years ago, they bailed, and tens of thousands of ebookshelves on Amazon.com disappeared in a very quiet departure from the business. Anyone who had not downloaded books or who had a hard drive failure, had no way to recover investments that sometimes added up to thousands of dollars in ebooks. It was a stealth departure from the business - if the math does not add up, Amazon will undoubtedly do the same with the Kindle bookshelves and Kindle format.

It all boils down to whether or not people are willing to carry around yet another digital device. One thing's for sure, Apple sure missed the boat on this one...

Amazon Introduces Kindle; Apple Introduces Nothing [www.isights.org]