What will Amazon do next in the name of “enhancing the customer experience”? Right in the middle of Amazon’s POD controversy, the company has announced proprietary reading glasses—a “revolutionary technology” that currently works only with certain Kindle titles but with all BookSurge-printed books.
“Even people with 20/20 vision will benefit from this breakthrough,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is quoted today in Publishers Weekly. “Our AmGlasses will double the readings speeds of our customers.
“The glasses contain enhanced electronic and are finely tuned to work with E Ink displays and Kindle fonts and take advance of the Kindle’s wireless WhisperNet capabilities, so that you can absorb the books not just through your eyes but also a special magnetic field.”
eBabel angle
The blogsophere is abuzz with indignation. In the e-book realm, it seems as though AmGlasses initially will work only with Kindle books from Random House, S&S, HarperCollins and other special partners.
“We’re planning to extend this option to other publishers in the next six months,” Amazon spokesperson Heather Huntoon assures PW.
As usual, Ms. Huntoon refused to talk to the TeleBlog, but what really dismays me is AmGlasses’ use of proprietary technology that is compatible only with certain Kindle-format content and with BookSurge p-books and deliberately excludes digital titles using the .epub standard.
On the BookSurge side…
Meanwhile Amazon is assuring customers that it retains a respect for the Long Tail. “In fact,” says Huntoon, “our enhanced electronics will work even now with all paper books printed by our BookSurge division—opening up new opportunities for us among those who are not yet ready for e-books. Reading speeds are not as fast as with Kindle books but should still increase a good 75 percent, and in time we expect them to be double the usual rate.”
Amazon stock was up 2.1 percent (1.54) at close yesterday on the NASDAQ, following the AmGlasses announcement, Oprah Winfrey’s videotaped endorsement of the new product, and talk of a forthcoming cover story in Newsweek.
In a related development, a Kindle competitor has surfaced in the U.K., the e-reads iWash, and you can get the details from our friends at if:book.
Update, 10.a.m.: April Fool’s Day alert.
Technorati Tags: BookSurge,reading,book publishing,publishing,Amazon.com,Holly Huntoon
Am I the only one who smells snake oil?
How exactly does “absorbing books through a special magnetic field” even work?
Thanks for your thoughts, Yoda. Stepping outside the humor mode—hey, this is April Fool’s Day—let’s think about the real snake oil from Amazon and how risible it can be. It’s to the point where, yes, maybe I should have been clearer about the humor. Sorry if I wasn’t—I’ve added an April Fool’s alert at the end. Would that the other item be a joke! Thanks. David
This technology is real; the ebook community mailing list has been abuzz about this new technology for the last 6 months. If you don’t believe me, check out the wikipedia page on the subject .
A photo of the prototype was released last year; ugly! Engadget heard it on good authority that the final product will look different. I’m worried about battery life. I’m still waiting for the spec sheet, but if the glasses are going to last for only a week or two, wouldn’t that cause problems for people while driving?
By the way, Amazon.com has agreed to an on-the-record interview with TeleRead in the next week or two. Stay tuned!
Doubling reading speed would be nice, as I am an unfortunately slow reader. But if only they were compatible with my Palm! Us impoverished students (literally) can’t afford to commit to products suffering from such horrible restrictions.
Amazon is getting into after-market products for the Kindle in a really big way. I’m currently negotiating a deal to sell them bags filled with light that Kindle users can use to make viewing their e-Ink displays a bit easier.
You see, my company markets a product called the LumiSuck that’s kinda like a vacuum cleaner for light. It’s used in the stage and industrial lighting industries to suck up small areas of stray light that interfere with a lighting designer’s artistic concept. Our customers were unsure what to do with the LumiSuck bag when it filled, so we instituted a recycling program by which they return the filled bags to us and we send them back a new, empty bag.
I have several warehouses filled to the rafters with bags of excess photons. If I can unload these on Amazon to sell as a supplemental Kindle lighting source, I stand to make a real bundle!