Amazon is expected to unveil the Kindle 2 on February 9 in New York City—with such improvements as a faster screen, perhaps a refined keyboard, and better page-changing controls. The screen and keyboard improvements just might lead to more interactivity.
So what do you think are the chances that the Kindle 2 will have something else? ePub? My guess is, No. But hope lingers despite Amazon’s format chauvinism. Any reason why Jeff B. might surprise us? I suspect the Kindle will have ePub in time if Jeff stays in the e-book hardware business. Just not now.
I’ll also be curious if the Kindle 2 is less U.S.-centric and will work with wireless in Europe at least. Another “Dream on” situation?
Related: New York Times, Engadget, MobileRead, Techmeme roundup, Google News and some past TeleBlog posts on the above topic. Hmm. I wonder what Aaron Pressman is thinking.
I don’t think there are going to be any major changes – maybe folder support if we’re lucky. There’s been some speculation that the display might be bigger, but I expect it will be the same as the previous version. Maybe they’ll have GSM versions so they can more easily grow their customer base overseas.
Amazon pretty well have ease of use/buying sorted; they have a high profile and brand recognition.
All they have to do is NOT RUN OUT OF PRODUCT at peak buying season.