Amazon’s Kindle press release: No mention of Mobipocket by name—raising compatibility issues, alas
No mention of Mobipocket, the Amazon-owned format that works on many computers, appears by name in the company’s official press release for the Kindle. Does this mean that the Kindle format is different? Will Mobipocket books work on the Kindle, or Kindle books on a bunch of computers that can run Mobi? I don’t know right now. Oh, and get this: There are costs associated with emailing and personal documents:
"Customers can take their personal documents with them on their Kindle. Customers and their contacts can e-mail Word documents and pictures directly to their unique and customizable Kindle e-mail address for $0.10 each. Kindle supports wireless delivery of unprotected Microsoft(R) Word, HTML, TXT, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP files."
The release follows.
Revolutionary Portable Reader Lets Customers Wirelessly Download
Books in Less Than a Minute and Automatically Receive Newspapers,
Magazines and Blogs
No PC Required, No Hunting for Wi-Fi Hot Spots
SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nov. 19, 2007–Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) today introduced Amazon Kindle, a revolutionary portable reader that wirelessly downloads books, blogs, magazines and newspapers to a crisp, high-resolution electronic paper display that looks and reads like real paper, even in bright sunlight. More than 90,000 books are now available in the Kindle Store, including 101 of 112 current New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases, which are $9.99, unless marked otherwise. Kindle is available starting today for $399 at http://amazon.com/kindle.
"We’ve been working on Kindle for more than three years. Our top design objective was for Kindle to disappear in your hands — to get out of the way — so you can enjoy your reading," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. "We also wanted to go beyond the physical book. Kindle is wireless, so whether you’re lying in bed or riding a train, you can think of a book, and have it in less than 60 seconds. No computer is needed — you do your shopping directly from the device. We’re excited to make Kindle available today."
Downloads Content Wirelessly, No PC Required, No Hunting for Wi-Fi Hot Spots
The Kindle wireless delivery system, Amazon Whispernet, uses the same nationwide high-speed data network (EVDO) as advanced cell phones. Kindle customers can wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download or receive new content — all without a PC, Wi-Fi hot spot, or syncing.
No Monthly Wireless Bills or Commitments
Books can be downloaded in less than a minute and magazines, newspapers, and blogs are delivered to subscribers automatically. Amazon pays for the wireless connectivity for Kindle so there are no monthly wireless bills, data plans, or service commitments for customers.
Reads Like Paper
Kindle uses a high-resolution display technology called electronic paper that provides a sharp black and white screen that is as easy to read as 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 backlight, eliminating the eyestrain and glare associated with other electronic displays such as computer monitors or PDA screens.
Books, Blogs, Magazines and Newspapers
The Kindle Store currently offers more than 90,000 books, as well as hundreds of newspapers, magazines and blogs. Customers can search, browse, buy, and download from this wide selection wirelessly from their Kindle. The same Amazon shopping experience customers are accustomed to is offered in the Kindle Store, including customer reviews, personalized recommendations, 1-Click purchasing, and everyday low prices. Additionally, Kindle customers can download and read the first chapter of most Kindle books for free.
Kindle customers can select from the most recognized U.S. newspapers, as well as popular magazines and journals, such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Atlantic Monthly, TIME and Fortune. The Kindle Store also includes top international newspapers from France, Germany, and Ireland, including Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine and The Irish Times. Subscriptions are auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle overnight so that the latest edition is waiting for customers when they wake up. Monthly Kindle newspaper subscriptions are $5.99 to $14.99 per month, and Kindle magazines are $1.25 to $3.49 per month. All magazines and newspapers include a free two-week trial.
The Kindle Store has over 300 blogs on topics ranging from Internet and technology to culture, lifestyle, and humor, to politics and opinion. Examples include Slashdot, TechCrunch, BoingBoing, The Onion, The Huffington Post, and ESPN blogs. Blogs are updated and downloaded wirelessly throughout the day so Kindle customers can read blogs whenever and wherever they want. Wireless delivery of blogs costs as little as $0.99 each per month and also includes a free two-week trial.
Holds Hundreds of Books in 10.3 Ounces
At 10.3 ounces, Kindle is lighter and thinner than a typical paperback and fits easily in one hand, yet its built-in memory stores more than 200 titles, and hundreds more with an optional SD memory card. Additionally, a copy of every book purchased is backed up online on Amazon.com so that customers have the option to make room for new titles on their Kindle knowing that Amazon.com is storing their personal library of purchased content.
Built-In Dictionary and Wikipedia
Kindle has built-in access to The New Oxford American Dictionary, which contains over 250,000 entries and definitions, so readers can easily look up the definitions of words within their reading. Kindle customers also have seamless access to the world’s most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopedia, Wikipedia.org, and its collection of over 2,000,000 articles.
Long Battery Life
Customers can leave the Kindle wireless connectivity on and recharge approximately every other day, or turn wireless off and read for a week or more before recharging. Kindle fully recharges in two hours.
Search
Kindle has a standard-layout keyboard that makes it possible for users to search the Kindle Store, their entire library of purchased content, and Wikipedia.org. Customers simply type in a word or phrase and Kindle will find every instance.
Annotation and Bookmarks
The Kindle keyboard lets customers add annotations to text, just as they would write in the margins of a book. Customers can edit, delete and export these notes, highlight and clip key passages, and bookmark pages for future use. Additionally, Kindle automatically bookmarks the last page a customer reads of any content on their Kindle.
Ergonomic Design
Kindle is designed for long-form reading, so it is as easy to hold and use as a book. Full-length, vertical page-turning buttons are located on both sides of Kindle, allowing customers to read and turn pages comfortably from any position. The page-turning buttons are located on both the right and left sides of Kindle, which allows both left and right-handed customers to hold, turn pages, and position Kindle with one hand.
Adjustable Text Size
Kindle has six adjustable font sizes to suit customers’ varying reading preferences.
Personal Documents
Customers can take their personal documents with them on their Kindle. Customers and their contacts can e-mail Word documents and pictures directly to their unique and customizable Kindle e-mail address for $0.10 each. Kindle supports wireless delivery of unprotected Microsoft(R) Word, HTML, TXT, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP files.
Comes Ready To Use
When customers order a Kindle, it arrives from Amazon.com ready to use. There is no software to load or set up. Customers are immediately ready to shop, purchase, download and read from Kindle.
Amazon is adding new book, periodical, and blog titles to the Kindle Store every day. Publishers and authors can submit their content and make it available to Kindle customers by using Amazon’s new Digital Text Platform (DTP), a fast and easy self-publishing tool that lets anyone upload and sell their books in the Kindle Store. Sign up today for DTP at http://dtp.amazon.com.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc., (Nasdaq:AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as health and personal care, jewelry and watches, gourmet food, sports and outdoors, apparel and accessories, books, music, DVDs, electronics and office, toys and baby, and home and garden.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, and the Joyo Amazon websites at www.joyo.cn and www.amazon.cn.
As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
Amazon Kindle is sold through Amazon Digital Services, Inc. Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, significant amount of indebtedness, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com’s financial results is included in Amazon.com’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, and all subsequent filings.
November 19th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
The Kindle is on Amazon’s web site now, and it looks like we have yet another proprietary format, and that even DRM MobiPocket titles can’t be read on the Kindle. From a quick search of a few authors’ titles, I see nothing that says that a lot of titles are available here that weren’t already available from other ebook vendors.
Barring changes there, it looks like I may be saving my 400 bucks.
Bests to all,
–tr
November 19th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
From the Kindle User’s Guide:
It can also support automated conversion via email of a few other formats:
November 19th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
I think they’re just hiding the Mobipocket compatibility because it involves hooking the Kindle up to a PC:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200137060
I ordered one and should have it tomorrow. I’ll let you know for sure.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Good God! No DRMed Mobi? WTF is up with that?! (I know: publishers twisting their arms for Even More DRM! Just like NBC/Universal tried to twist Steve Jobs’ arm on the issue.)
But really, go look at the marketing vids amazon has put up for the Kindle. A really killer job!
http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-com-kindle/dp/B000FI73MA
I’d have to fondle one beforehand. And I still have Qs. But they are making some excellent noises in their pitch.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
I have emailed customer service at Amazon to ask for information about the text sizes. They advertise 6 sizes, but they don’t tell us the exact font sizes. I am curious about how they compare in size to the font of large print books. Does any one know the exact font sizes?
November 19th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Here is the weak underbelly of dedicated ebook reading devices:
http://www.amazon.com/Autism-Preparing-for-Adulthood/dp/B000OI1A3O/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1195496008&sr=1-18
– ONE book — $88 in Kindle and new paper formats
http://www.amazon.com/Autism-Preparing-Adulthood-Patricia-Howlin/dp/0415115329/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195496162&sr=8-1
– used paperback edition, *half price* (probably less if it hits ebay…)
(There is another autism book for $119 in Kindle format!)
It is simply insane to price the print and electronic editions the same. Suicidal.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Kindle Store Gotcha:
http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Tinkers-Jack-Taylor/dp/B000FC0YXG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1195497911&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Tinkers-Novel/dp/B000PC10Z2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1195497911&sr=1-2
It’s the SAME BOOK!
But Sony has to go yell at St. Martin’s now:
http://ebooks.connect.com/product/400/000/000/000/000/035/871/400000000000000035871.html
Sony’s price is HIGHER!
November 19th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
“No DRMed Mobi? WTF is up with that?!”
People shouldn’t buy DRMed ebooks. I’ve ordered a Kindle but don’t plan on buying a single book ever through Amazon. Buy them from Baen and elsewhere and convert to non-DRMed Mobipocket FTW.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
There are reports on MobileRead that AMZ is EXACTLY MOBI, but tied to the (unknown) PID of the kindle. In any case, there is no doubt that Amazon could support DRMed MOBI on the Kindle if they wanted too. I don’t know if there are any publishers who use .MOBI format by refuse to pay an Amazon tax for .AMZ. This looks like the iPod all over again.
November 20th, 2007 at 10:50 am
>>>There are reports on MobileRead that AMZ is EXACTLY MOBI, but tied to the (unknown) PID of the kindle.
But that brings up this issue: What of people who have already bought DRMed Mobi? Must they now pay again for the AMZ-wrapped version?
Someone asked about the fonts. From BoingBoing:
>>>• There are only two fonts: Caecilia and Neue Helvetica, both from Linotype. You cannot select which font to use to read (the book texts are in Caecilia), but can select from six font sizes.
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2007/11/19/15-things-i-just-lea.html
November 20th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Mike, thank you for the information on the fonts. I received an email back from Amazon.com that said that the font sizes were 7, 9, 11, 17, and 20. I am surprised that they chose the 7 point, since I can’t get Microsoft Word to even use a font size less that 8. I would have been happier if they had left out the 7 point and added a 28 point for people who have low vision - or perhaps allowed the reader to scale the text to whatever size they preferred.