Amazon's Kindle

Amazon.com released (November 2007) the e-book reader that they've had in the works for three years. It's called the Kindle, as in to kindle a fire, kindle your imagination. No, I'm not in love with the name either. Thankfully, Amazon invested more in the design of the product than they did in its naming.

The Kindle's Body

Upon first glance, I wondered what the Kindle's designers were thinking when they chiseled out this asymmetrical block of white plastic. It is, after all a bit odd looking, tapering as it does from about a half inch thickness on its left side down to something less than a quarter of an inch on the right. But hold the Kindle for a bit and you realize that the product designers behind its shaping accomplished what they set out to. The Kindle is pleasant to hold in your hands - no, not quite like a paperback novel - but pleasant, nonetheless.

The Kindle's tapered lines mimic the fanning of an open book's pages and the rubber piece on the e-reader's backside prevents it from slipping from my grasp. Even the white plastic body has a suppleness that make it pleasing to the touch. I find that when I hold the Kindle in two hands, my thumbs fall naturally on the Next Page bars built into the reader's left and right edges.

Reading a Kindle

I currently have the New York Times, two blogs, and Born Standing Up, Steve Martin's new autobiography, on my Kindle. It's a kick for me to be able to throw this into my backpack or my car, or have it next to me on the night stand with all of these options to choose from, and I've only vaguely scratched the surface of what I could put on there. Amazon makes it very easy to buy Kindle content right from the device itself and then sends whatever you buy wirelessly to your Kindle. Wherever you are, you can pick out and be reading a new book in just a couple minutes.

The Kindle uses MIT-developed e-ink technology rather than being back-lit like a computer screen. This not only makes reading the Kindle easy on the eyes, but also allows Kindle-use in bright-light situations, ie: outdoors. One explores Kindle content through the combined use of Next and Previous Page bars and a small click-wheel that rolls an indicator vertically next to the screen, allowing you to select various navigational options. It took me a while to get over wanting to use the click-wheel to scroll from page to page, but my hands soon developed a sense memory for this unique interface. Additionally, the keyboard below the Kindle's screen allows you to make notes about what you're reading, much as you might write in the margins of a book.

Whispernet

The Kindle has what most would consider to be a high cost of entry - $400 - and it's only available on Amazon.com, so that means you really don't get the opportunity to explore the device before shelling out these big bills. That's a tough pill to swallow for many would-be Kindle owners, and yet as of this writing, Amazon.com is currently sold out of Kindles.

It's important to realize that $400 not only buys you the device, but also a lifetime of service on the Kindle. One of its key selling points is that it is utterly standalone. Sure, it syncs to your Amazon account, allowing you the ease of Amazon's one-click buying, and you can actually manage your Kindle content via your computer, but you don't have to. Nor is access to Wi-Fi necessary to get your e-books or newspaper subscriptions, because Amazon uses a wireless cellular network it calls Whispernet to deliver your Kindle content. And there's no service charge or monthly subscription service for Whispernet. You pay what's advertised for whatever books, magazines, or newspapers you buy, and that's it.

Amazon has also bundled a handful of extras into the Kindle, most notably the ability to download and listen to audio books from Audible.com and some limited web-surfing capabilities. These are nice-to-haves, but nobody's going to buy a Kindle to surf the web, not until Amazon revs it up a bit - some color and a touch screen would be nice.

The Bottom Line

The Kindle's audience will doubtlessly be limited until they ratchet the price down a few notches, though I can think of select groups of readers for whom adoption could be immediate - frequent travelers, for instance. In fact, a reviewer of mine commented to me today that he wished he'd had a Kindle when he was in Ireland recently, rather than having to lug around 10 pounds of cheap paperbacks. College students will of course be quick to adopt the Kindle if they can get textbook publishers to digitize their content, which I suppose is questionable.

Personally, I've been an e-book skeptic since the concept was initially introduced. I'm a big fan of books. The design of the physical book frequently appeals to me and I'm an avid practitioner of marginalia (writing in my books), so I have no intention of giving up my addiction to those small blocks of dead tree matter. The Kindle however has opened my eyes to what a pleasing experience reading an e-book can be.

Kudos to Amazon - they've done this one right. And with perfect placement within the publishing industry and the rapt attention of a world of online consumers, they actually have the potential to do for e-books what Apple did for digital music. So I'm on board - an early adopter even. I'm adding e-books and other e-content to my regular reading regimen, and I'll keep you posted about new developments and e-book reviews. The future of reading? I don't know. Let's find out.