Will the Kindle or even a Kindle II e-reader hit the U.K. later this year? Will the Readius—an e-reader and GSM mobile phone combo shown here, with a five-inch rollable E Ink screen—appear in Britain in mid-2008?
And will Sony wait until the third quarter to launch its Reader over there, a far cry from the spring launch that some had once envisioned?
Kindle II—or just fun speculation?
That’s quite a juicy collection of tidbits tucked away in a Bookseller article, which says the Kindle II “may feature both e-books and digital audio downloads?” Hmm. Did the Bookseller instead mean that the II would offer better audio-related navigational capabilities or other improvements over the existing Kindle, which already can do audio? And why the specific reference to the II when even the original Kindle isn’t on sale in the U.K. yet? Was the Bookseller just looking ahead, or was it really on to something?
Meanwhile, as much a booster as I am of the idea of phone-e-reader combinations, given the fondness of many people for consolidating their gadgets, I can’t wait to get my hands on a Readius. “After seeing this device, I will be skipping the Kindle (unless Amazon can come out with something like this) and buying this much more pocketable device that can also serve as a phone if I need it to,” writes Matthew Miller in The Mobile Gadgeteer blog, where this video appeared. “There doesn’t appear to be a way to buy and download content from just the device, but that may be coming in the future since it does support the 3.5G HSDPA networks.” For now, let’s remember that the Readius may not even be able to function as a plain old cellphone at first in the U.S., considering the different standards and commercial issues; I don’t know, either way.
Main focus of the Bookseller piece is on the e-rights battle between authors and publishers. The Society of Authors wants 25 percent royalties on net receipts, according to the Bookseller, which reports:
“The gauntlet was thrown down in February by Random House c.e.o. Gail Rebuck, who in a meeting with agents proposed a royalty of 15% of net receipts on digital sales. That’s higher than the standard 10% royalty rate on hardbacks, but significantly lower than the 25% currently received by authors in the US for e-book sales.
“Little, Brown c.e.o. Ursula Mackenzie followed suit, writing to agents to say that the Hachette publisher would also be seeking to pay 15% royalties on digital editions. Both publishers emphasised that the rates would be short-term and subject to break clauses.”
Technorati Tags: Sony,Amazon,Readiu,Polymer Vision
Definitely interested in the Readius – with the rollable form factor it’s much more portable and probably a bit more durable than traditional e-ink reader devices. The phone components, not so much, at least not until mobile data stops being stupidly expensive here in the UK.
Considering that the Kindle comes bundled with US-only cellular data capabilities, Amazon will already have to re-engineer to launch anything in the EU. If they’re going to have to re-engineer anyway, I’d guess that they’d want to incorporate any advances that have come up in the meantime (e.g., the new display chips you mentioned the other day).
Unlike some of the others on this blog, I’ve seen the Kindle and I love it. I’m nervous about Amazon’s market power, but happy to see Fictionwise being a strong second source for Kindle-formatted books.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
Dan and Rob:
D: Here’s hoping that the Readius will do or eventually do ePUB! Thanks for the info, and may your data rates come down! Agree re data chip, especially since the Kindle has that little keyboard and a faster refresh rate would help a bit there. Same for browsing.
R: Having played with a Kindle for a bit, I can say the wireless shopping capability is great. But, yes, as I wrote, the screen in my opinion could use more contrast. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kindle II addressed that issue and the issue of the hair-trigger page changers.
Thanks,
David
…oh, and ePUB compliance would be cool! That could even be added to the current Kindle via a firmware update or whatever. – David
[…] – Hands-on with the Readius eInk Mobile Device] [2008 U.K. launch for Amazon Kindle or K II? Mid-’08 for Readius rollable E Ink reader? Q3 for Sony…] […]
Being an infrequent visitor to our cousins across the water I can say that some US cell providers do support GSM phones although I am aware that there is heavy use of the US developed CDMA transmission standard. When it comes to the various data transmission standards I’m firmly in the 1990s in my knowledge / use – but I think I’m right in saying that all of the higher speed data transfer standards are downward compatible.
One of the commenters has said that the UK cost of bandwidth is scary, and it is. The cheaper end of the market is still around £10(US$20) per gigabyte (on a non-contract basis).
The other advantage to releasing the kindle or readius in the EU, no silly map of service – coverage is very close to 100%.
Does anyone have any idea about (the projected?) sale prices of Readius?
All though it was not mentioned at their web site, the technology should be based on the e-paper similar to those who don’t consume power in displaying.
best regards;
kunter.