New Kindle Expected This Summer, Touch Possible Later
May 30th 2010 12:15
From: The New York Times
Amazon could release a new slimmer Kindle in August, Bloomberg News reports, citing “two people familiar with its plans.”
Bloomberg reports that the new Kindle would be thinner than existing models and although the next model would still offer a black and white screen, it would have a sharper and more responsive display.
The Kindle 2 is 0.36 inches thick. The Apple iPad, a rival device, is half an inch thick.
Although Bloomberg said the next Kindle “won’t include a touch screen or color,” a person I’ve spoken with who is familiar with Amazon’s plans but is not authorized to speak publicly said Lab 126, the division of Amazon responsible for the Kindle, is hard at work on multi-touch prototypes for a next-generation e-reader.
As we reported earlier this year, Amazon bought TouchCo, a company in New York that specialized in clear multi-touch overlays for computers and electronic readers.
Rumors that the next iteration of the device will still be black-and-white also might be short-lived. As I reported earlier this year, the Kindle job board had been seeking engineers with an understanding of color LCD displays that could possibly be integrated into the next generation of the Kindle.
In addition, earlier this week, Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, told shareholders that a color screen was in the offing. “I’ve seen some stuff in the laboratory, but it’s not quite ready for prime-time production,” Mr. Bezos said.
Competition in the e-reader space has been heating up for the last year and promises to bring even more players fighting for their share. On Thursday Nicholas Negroponte, who started the One Laptop Per Child Project, which hopes to place inexpensive laptops in schools around the world, announced that he was teaming with Marvell, an electronics maker, to create a $75 tablet device that will offer a full computer and e-reading capabilities.
In addition, Google hopes to enter the tablet computing and e-reader market this year, introducing a device that would offer similar capabilities as Apple’s iPad and would most likely run the Android operating system.
It is still unclear if Amazon plans to keep its next-generation Kindle as a device solely for reading, or if it will add computing capabilities to compete with a growing genre of tablet PCs that offer reading, games and full access to the Internet.
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