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Kindle 3 pre-orders tomorrow, ships internationally 8/27
July 28, 2010 | 8:16 pm
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By Chris Meadows
(Spotted by eagle-eyed TeleReader Felix Torres!)
First it was the markdowns on the Kindle 2, and the even lower markdowns on refurbished Kindle 2s. This should have been an early clue, given that it’s much the same thing that happened to the Kindle 1 shortly before the Kindle 2 came out.
When the Kindle 2 went out of stock on Amazon, it seemed obvious a replacement would be coming soon—and now the Wall Street Journal is covering Jeff Bezos’s next e-ink marvel. Engadget has a closer look at the device (and a bigger version of the photo at left), Wired has more coverage, and probably every other e-book and tech blog will have its own coverage within a couple of hours.
The new Kindle will have the same sort of higher-contrast screen as the new Kindle DX, and will be available in 3G for $189 and wi-fi only for $139, bringing it in a good $10 below the wi-fi-less Kobo or the wi-fi-only Nook. I believe this represents the first time any Kindle has had wi-fi; no word yet on whether the 3G version will also have it as a back-up.
"We developed this device for serious readers. At these price points, it may be much broader than that," said Mr. Bezos in an interview. "People will buy them for their kids. People won’t share Kindles any more."
From the photo, the new Kindle seems to share the same graphite grey shade as the new Kindle DX—perhaps an easy way to distinguish it casually from its predecessor—and Bezos notes it is 21% smaller than the previous one, even though the screen is still the same size, with further interface improvements to minimize distractions.
Bezos says he had no interest in adding features such as color that would distract from the reading experience, or in following the lead of a hundred other companies who were making LCD tablets. “I like building a purpose-built reading device. I think that is where we can make a real contribution.”
The device will be available for order on Thursday, and ship internationally (140 countries) August 27th.
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Yes, the 3G version has WiFi.
The ergonomics look improved, the storage is doubled, and there’s a new Webkit based-browser.
A new cover with built-in light is due.
Here’s the full press release:
ANNOUNCING A NEW GENERATION OF KINDLE: THE ALL-NEW KINDLE IS SMALLER, LIGHTER, AND FASTER, WITH 50 PERCENT BETTER CONTRAST
Kindle’s revolutionary wireless delivery and massive selection of content-now in a 21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter design, with 50 percent better contrast, 20 percent faster page turns, up to one month of battery life, double the storage, and more-only $189, and still with free 3G wireless
Amazon also introduces new Kindle family member: Kindle Wi-Fi-only $139
SEATTLE-July 29, 2010-(NASDAQ: AMZN)-Millions of people are already reading on Kindles and Kindle is the #1 bestselling item on Amazon.com for two years running. It’s also the most-wished-for, most-gifted, and has the most 5-star reviews of any product on Amazon.com. Today, Amazon.com is excited to introduce a new generation of Kindle. The all-new Kindle has a new electronic-ink screen with 50 percent better contrast than any other e-reader, a new sleek design with a 21 percent smaller body while still keeping the same 6-inch-size reading area, and a 15 percent lighter weight at just 8.7 ounces. The new Kindle also offers 20 percent faster page turns, up to one month of battery life, double the storage to 3,500 books, built-in Wi-Fi, a graphite color option and more-all for only $189, and still with free 3G wireless-no monthly bills or annual contracts.
Also today, Amazon introduced a new addition to its family of portable reading devices-Kindle Wi-Fi. Readers who don’t need the convenience of free 3G wireless can now enjoy the new generation Kindle for the lower price of only $139. The all-new Kindle and Kindle Wi-Fi are now available for pre-order at http://www.amazon.com/kindle3G and http://www.amazon.com/kindleWi-Fi, and will ship to customers in over 140 countries and 30 territories beginning August 27.
Kindle offers the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read. The U.S. Kindle Store now has more than 630,000 books, including New Releases and 109 of 111 New York Times Best Sellers. Over 510,000 of these books are $9.99 or less, including 80 New York Times Best Sellers. Over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available to read on Kindle. Kindle lets you buy your books once and read them everywhere-on Kindle, Kindle DX, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry, and Android-based devices. Amazon’s Whispersync technology syncs your place across devices, so you can pick up where you left off. With Kindle Worry-Free Archive, books you purchase from the Kindle Store are automatically backed up online in your Kindle library on Amazon where they can be re-downloaded wirelessly for free, anytime.
More than 235,000 books have been added to the Kindle Store in just the last six months, including New York Times Best Sellers “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest,” “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” and “The Passage.” The Kindle Store also recently added 20 contemporary classics from the Wylie Agency’s new “Odyssey Editions” imprint that are available for the first time as e-books and exclusively in the Kindle Store, including John Updike’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit series, Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita,” Norman Mailer’s “The Naked and the Dead,” Philip Roth’s “Portnoy’s Complaint” and Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man.”
“Kindle is the best-selling product on Amazon for two years running. We lowered the price to $189 and sales growth tripled. Now, we are excited to introduce a new generation Kindle that is smaller, lighter, and faster, with 50 percent better contrast. Readers are going to do a double take when they see Kindle’s bright new screen and feel how remarkably light the smaller 8.7 ounce design feels in one hand,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder & CEO. “If you don’t need the convenience of 3G wireless, we have an incredible new price point-$139 for Kindle Wi-Fi. Kindle Wi-Fi has all the same features, same bookstore, same high-contrast electronic paper display, and it’s even a tiny bit lighter at 8.5 ounces. At this price point, many people are going to buy multiple units for the home and family.”
All New, High-Contrast E-Ink Screen, Read in Bright Sunlight: The new Kindle uses Amazon’s all-new electronic ink display with 50 percent better contrast for the clearest text and sharpest images. No other e-reader has this screen or this level of contrast. Unlike LCD screens, Kindle’s paper-like display looks and reads like real paper, with no glare, even in bright sunlight.
New Proprietary Screen Technology-Faster Page Turns, New and Improved Fonts: Kindle’s all-new, high-contrast electronic ink display is further optimized with Amazon’s proprietary waveform and font technology to make pages turn faster and fonts sharper. Waveform is a series of electronic pulses that move black and white electronic ink particles to achieve a final gray level for an image or text. Amazon tuned the new Kindle’s waveform and controller mechanism to make page turning 20 percent faster. In addition, this waveform tuning combined with new hand-built, custom fonts and font-hinting make words and letters more crisp, clear, and natural-looking. Font hints are instructions, written as code, that control points on a font character’s line and improve legibility at small font sizes where few pixels are available. Hinting is a mix of aesthetic judgments and complicated technical strategies. Amazon designed its proprietary font-hinting to optimize specifically for the special characteristics of electronic ink.
New Sleek Design, Lighter Than a Paperback: The new Kindle has a 21 percent smaller body while still keeping the same 6-inch-size reading area. At only 8.7 ounces, the new Kindle is 15 percent lighter and still 1/3 of an inch thin, making it lighter than a paperback and thinner than a magazine. With Kindle you can read comfortably and naturally with just one hand for hours. The new Kindle Wi-Fi is even lighter at just 8.5 ounces.
Double the Storage, Holds 3,500 Books: The new Kindle has double the storage so you can carry up to 3,500 books.
Up To One Month of Battery Life: The new Kindle has up to one month of battery life with wireless off. Keep wireless on and your Kindle will have battery life of up to 10 days.
Free 3G Wireless: Kindle offers free 3G wireless, which means no annual contracts and no monthly fees. Global Wireless Coverage: Kindle is the only e-reader that lets you travel the globe and still get books in under 60 seconds with wireless coverage in over 100 countries and territories.
New Built-In Wi-Fi: In addition to free 3G wireless, Kindle now has built-in Wi-Fi support. Kindle owners will now be able to connect to Wi-Fi hotspots at home or on the road. Readers who don’t need the convenience of free 3G wireless can purchase the new Kindle Wi-Fi for only $139 and download content over Wi-Fi. Amazon is offering free Wi-Fi access at AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots across the U.S. for shopping and downloading Kindle content-no AT&T registration, sign-in, or password required.
Quieter Page Turn Buttons: Quieter page turns means you can read all night without disturbing your partner.
Share Meaningful Passages: Share meaningful passages with friends and family with built-in Twitter and Facebook integration.
Simple to Use: Kindle is ready to use right out of the box – no setup, no software to install, no computer required.
Books in 60 Seconds: With fast, free wireless delivery, you can start reading books on Kindle in less than 60 seconds.
Massive Selection: The Kindle Store has over 630,000 books, including 109 of 111 New York Times Best Sellers, plus audiobooks, periodicals and blogs.
Free, Out-of-Copyright Books: Over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books such as “Pride and Prejudice” are available to read on Kindle.
Low Book Prices: Over 510,000 of the 630,000 books in the Kindle Store are $9.99 or less, including 80 New York Times Best Sellers.
Free Book Samples: First chapters of Kindle books are available to download and read for free before you decide to buy.
Read Everywhere with Whispersync: Kindle books can be read on your Kindle, iPhone, iPad, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, and Android-based devices. Amazon’s Whispersync technology syncs your place across devices, so you can pick up where you left off.
Worry-Free Archive: Books purchased from the Kindle Store are automatically backed up online in your Kindle library on Amazon where they can be re-downloaded wirelessly for free, anytime.
Improved PDF Reader: The new Kindle uses an improved built-in PDF reader with new dictionary lookup, notes and highlights, and support for password protected PDFs.
New WebKit-based Browser (experimental): The new Kindle uses a new web browser based on the industry-leading open source Web browser engine, WebKit. The updated browser is faster, easier to navigate, and provides a new “article mode” feature that simplifies web pages to just the main text- based content for easier reading. Web browsing with Kindle over 3G or Wi-Fi is free.
New Voice Guide: With Text-to-Speech, Kindle can read out loud to you. New Text-to-Speech enabled menus allow customers to navigate Kindle without having to read menu options. In addition to listening to books aloud, users now have the option of listening to content listings on the home screen, item descriptions, and all menu options.
New Lighted Leather Cover: The all-new Kindle cover features an integrated, retractable reading light that lets you read comfortably anytime, anywhere. The light is a permanent part of the cover, so it’s always with you, and hides away into the cover when not in use. The high-quality LED light illuminates Kindle’s entire paper-like display, adding brightness without adding glare. Amazon’s patent-pending hinge system secures Kindle in place and conducts electricity from Kindle’s battery to the reading light, eliminating the need for batteries. The conductive hinges are gold-plated to ensure a reliable electrical connection. Gold is used because of its ability to make good electrical contact even with low force and for its corrosion resistance. The Kindle cover is sold separately.
Customers can discover full details and pre-order the new Kindle and Kindle Wi-Fi starting today at http://www.amazon.com/kindle3G and http://www.amazon.com/kindleWi-Fi. For new high-resolution images of the new generation Kindle, visit http://www.amazon.com/pr/kindle/images.
Bezos will be on Charlie Rose tonight, I wonder if we’ll get more info.
I see they’re launching a UK Kindle store too according to Engaget…
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/28/new-amazon-kindle-announced-139-wifi-only-version-and-189-3g/
I really wish Amazon would open up the kindle software/service to other e-reader manufacturers. I’d use the kindle service, but i really don’t like the actual kindle device (though v3 is a little better).
Ben: You could always get an Android, Blackberry, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad…
Despite the purported statement to the contrary, anyone want to bet Amazon will offer a color Kindle as soon as practical? Magazines, newspapers, pictures etc. would all be vastly improved via color.
So…what happens between now and August 27th? Are they really leaving a 28-day window in which the DX is the only Kindle on the market?
Peter: Say it with me…Anticip…ation!
@Ben: it is not impossible that at some point they might do so. Bezos did say they treat the two operations separately; as standalone, self-sustaining businesses (probably for when the trustbusters or Brusselcrats start whining). So, *if* at some point a competing ebook reader vendor comes knocking for a license to the Kindle’s linux-based app, the bookstore guys might just grant it.
The problem is, why would another hardware vendor want to? Amazon is right now *the* low-cost bidder on eink readers. They look to remain the low-cost bidder on *connected* readers. And they have what appears to be preferential access to the latest and greatest eink screens (the spoils of moving millions of units per year). Doesn’t leave much room for a Kindle-compatible to manuever in; they can’t go cheap enough for it to matter and if they try to offer more functionality than Kindle they’ll end up more expensive than Kindle and verging on webpad/tablet territory. And the problem there is, as Bezos said; there’s 100 tablets coming. Most running Android or another cellphone OS. And Kindle App is already there.
Simply put, there is no room under the Kindle umbrella for competing ereaders.
In fact, the room *outside* the umbrella is shrinking. Most of the anything-but-Amazon buyers are tying their fate to the Adobe ePub camp. But that particular niche has a damocles sword hanging over it called Nook.
At some point Nook WiFi is going international.
And if Nook sales are really as big as Digitimes claims, the small regional ePub vendors are going to have to deal with an Amazon-sized gorilla within their own ranks.
Between the economies of scale of Nook and Kindle and the economies of tablets and webpads there is very little room to manuever. We may be looking at a duopoly before very long, at least in eink reader hardware.
@tbsteph; at what price a color Kindle?
$299?
$399?
In a world of $149 LCD color webpads? $399 Tablet PCs? $499 ipads?
Yes, I’m sure Bezos would love to do a color Kindle but the odds of it coming this year *and* selling significant amounts is very small. Color eink screen are not going to be cheap any time soon. LCD, however, is.
I could see a $399 mirasol-based color Kindle coming out for XMAS; the rumor is out there that *somebody* is going to ship a Mirasol reader this year. But the volume is likely going to be insignificant compared to the business generated by the WFi-only K3. Even KDX is looking to be a low-volume product, moving forward.
Anybody really willing to go for a $300-plus reader is more likely to want a full multipurpose device than a pure reader; the future of eink is, as we’ve said before around here, small and cheap. And its going to be a while before color eink gets cheap.
It may happen but not soon.
I don’t think we’ll see color, at least not if it’s eInk, until next year at the earliest maybe not until 2012.
Bezos has said in the past they’d license to other manufacturers as long as they were willing to hook into whispernet. True, I don’t know haven’t heard of anyone trying to get a license.
No EPUB support
No support for newspapers and magazines on IPAD, IPHONE
Until that happens, I am not buying more Kindles (already have 2).
It may not sounds a lot, but loping 1/2″ off the height and width is very good – 123mm wide fits many more pockets than 135mm.
Also, as well as shipping directly from the UK web site (rather than through the US .com site), Amazon have announced that they’ll be selling ebooks through a UK Kindle store too – presumably priced in £ rather than $. That will be very interesting – I wonder if they’ll get publishers to set a £ price as well as a $ price, or whether they’ll just apply an exchange rate. My guess is on the former.
And just £109 for the cheapest Kindle, including Wifi. That’s impressive.