ttrimble

Not bad for a first generation product from a company that has never designed hardware before.

Major-General

Jitty

TaraL

mandarin

I would buy one, but I still like buying books, and having the actual book. They each have down falls and upsides, which is why I would like to use both. Both a book and a PAD can burn in a fire, but electromagnetic problems will never interfere with a good book, you also don't have to charge a book. But chopping trees is bad. Like I said I would buy one of these, but not for books or novels, but for newspapers and magazines.

ps I love the fact that most ideas like E books and tablets came from good ole star trek. Technology is growing so fast. I like to see where this kind of technology goes. Id love to get my hands on the Sony reader and a future apple tablet. Ill wait a bit, Sony will put a speaker in very soon. One day these e books will probably even merge with a tablet, mobile phone, and camera to give you a full mobile communications and database device. You can have color and high res graphics for photos, movies, or real time visuals as well as the option to turn an internal light off so you can read a book soothing for the eyes. Ill give it a couple years then ill buy one, these devices are still a little flawed. You could say that you have the latest technology and I don't, but I will say you are buying the experimental devices and ill buy the devices when it has more functionality.

Daimyo Nintendo

sorensilk

I still think it's a really intriguing move, even if the Kindle is sort of like Amazon's Newton. Real innovation in our interface with the written word will go beyond little screens...

I've written a bit about the branding implications of Kindle at DIM BULB: [dimbulb.typepad.com]

JonathanSalemBaskin

The Kindle is so utilitarian looking that the only model I can think for it is as a free giveaway.

Imagine if as you board a train or plane that these are available from some type of charging tray by the entranceway. Then you can download your entire book library (for a fee) to read while enroute.

If that happens, I'm interested. Very cool if I no longer have to carry a ton of books/magazines to read. Not so cool if I have to worry about bringing my own reader from home in my luggage.

As a standalone with blech web client and crippled ability to load my documents, it's priced about three times reality of the marketplace.

But that's not what Amazon is looking to do. I don't think they are projecting to sell a lot of these. It's simply an Alpha release for (a) proof of concept and (b) introduction to the general public that Amazon has this great digital library.

The real cherry that Amazon is chasing is to become the primary distributor for digital content. And no, as a matter of fact I don't think it's going to take off until the reader is free and people don't carry them around but either pick them up while travelling or read the content from some type of universal reader built into a seat back or tray table.

mas90guru

frigg

manguero

I hardly think they can license it since it's not a patent.

License doesn't just refer to patents.

"I think instead of going to war they should just work with Amazon."

That's exactly my point. Brilliantly restated though. :)

weatherman

xxenclavexx

Pender

rflashman

Wilson Rothman

I think Amazon should restrict feedback to those with actual serial numbers.. Just my 2c.

i77

If I could download a wide variety of content wirelessly and use the thing as a browser, I wouldn't care what it looked like.

Ikat

Earthslide

frigg

A killer kindle feature would probably be excellent text-to-speech so any book you download as text you could also have read to you.

frigg

fussball

ConstyXIV

agreed its seriously hideous

MacAddict21

europria

MacAddict21

Noobs-R-Us

heroineworshipper

weatherman

DJJS

Improbable

senorbelly

Noobs-R-Us

ANoel

MWillis561