14 May 2009

Pinto's Point

New Kindle 2 e-book: Launch of e-paper

By Jim Pinto

I am a gadget freak and an Amazon addict. This week, my new Kindle 2 e-book came to my front door. I love it and am already in the process of e-reading a few good books. I also e-read The New York Times regularly, and I am testing (free) e-subscriptions to The Los Angeles Times and Fortune magazine. Plus, I entertain myself now and then by reading free book samples before I buy.

Kindle gives you a choice of 250,000 books, magazines, newspapers, any of which are delivered directly to your e-book typically in less than 60 seconds. Most books are $9.95 each, and the 2 gigabyte memory holds over 1,500 books.

The Kindle 2 is nice on a plane-ride, or on the beach, or a long-trip. And you do not have to fumble with pages. Navigation is easy, with convenient buttons to flip pages back and forth, anywhere you want.

The original Kindle (November 2007) seemed too clunky, and at $359 it was expensive. So I decided to wait. In the meantime, I fiddled around a bit with Sony’s eBook in the store, but was not impressed.

My wait for Kindle 2 was the way to go, even though the price (unchanged) still seems high. But heck, if an iPod music player justifies that kind of money, why not an e-book?

Kindle 2 is only 1/3 inch thick, and at 10 ounces, it is lighter than a paperback or magazine. I bought the optional leather cover ($29), which protects the Kindle and makes it look more like a small book.

The display is smaller than an average paperback page, but the text is crisp and readable, and you can change text size to suit. Visually, it is as good as paper. The e-paper screen is very readable with 16 gray shades. The bright-light visibility is superb, no glare or washout issues like conventional LCD Displays. It is perfect for sitting outside and reading on nice, sunny days. There is no backlight (saves on power consumption), but low-light readability is good. This will really bring e-paper into the mainstream of handheld devices.

The company behind the high-contrast, low-power “electronic paper” screen is E-Ink (based in Cambridge, Mass.). It has been waiting more than a decade for e-paper to take off. I think that this will be it.

The Whispernet wireless connection is 3G high-speed Internet, available like cell phone service but with no monthly fees. Content can be downloaded anytime, anywhere, without hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots.

The universal-voltage AC power-cord/charger is slick, with the DC supply built right into the plug. You can unplug the USB connector to recharge the Kindle off of a PC. Plus, of course, the USB is a PC-link for up- or down-loading.

You can read for days without re-charging. With the Whispernet on and occasionally downloading media content, you will get four days off the battery easily. With the wireless turned off, you will get an estimated 12-13 days of two hours per day usage. And when you are ready to shop or download a book, one button click turns the wireless on.

Kindle is more than just a book; it actually reads out loud to you with built-in speakers. Or you can include music (MP3) in the background. That is cool.

Amazon will not say how many Kindles it has sold to date; the guess is only about 10,000 to 15,000. Estimates for Kindle 2 are euphoric—about 500,000 this year and more than a million in 2010. This means more than $1 billion in revenue for Amazon. If it hits anywhere near those numbers, e-paper and e-books will finally have arrived.

All this excitement is in the face of a dire recession. Indeed, Kindle 2 is a symbol of what is coming with revolutionary new products and value-shifts for new kinds of economic success.

There is one problem, which has no immediate solution: Everyone around wants to know what the Kindle 2 is and wants to take a look, which tends to put a crimp on a spell of quiet reading. Ah, the woes of being on the edge of technology.

Related links:

• Kindling a Revolution: E Ink’s Russ Wilcox on E-Paper, the Future of Publishing:
  http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2009/02/26/kindling-a-revolution-e-inks-russ-wilcox-on-e-paper-amazon-and-the-future-of-publishing/
• Micro-Kindlenomics: Cost benefit analysis:
  http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=13691&tag=nl.e539
• The Kindle’s A Huge Hit. $1 Billion For Amazon In 2010:
  http://www.businessinsider.com/2008/8/citi-yep-the-kindle-s-a-huge-hit-1-billion-for-amazon-in-2010-amzn-

Behind the byline

Jim Pinto is an industry analyst and founder of Action Instruments. You can e-mail him at jim@jimpinto.com or view his writings at www.JimPinto.com. Read the Table of Contents of his book, Pinto’s Points, at www.jimpinto.com/writings/points.html.