Oprah Loves Kindle Ebook Reader

Ebook Reader - Oprah Winfrey Says Kindle Ebook Reader is her Favorite Gadget

Oprah Winfrey and the Amazon Kindle Ebook Reader

This summer Oprah Winfrey was given a Kindle Ebook Reader as a present and she says "it's absolutely my new favorite thing in the world". That's quite a statement from Oprah given the amount of new things she must be presented with almost daily.

Oprah loves just about everything about her Ebook Reader , even though she's tried other ebook readers before and not been particularly impressed. She loves the Kindle and also appreciates the ecological aspect of not having to cut down trees to read a book or magazine.

Oprah said "It was so easy, and the fact that it's wireless and you don't have to download them from your computer."

You also have the added benefit of not having to carry around a ton of books, particularly useful if you're a student. I suspect we will see a lot of the Amazon Kindle Ebook Reader being bought as Christmas presents this year.

Ebook Readers Have Bright Future

Ebook Readers Set for a Bright Future

J. Gerry Purdy has just written an excellent article on Ebook Readers entitled Why eBooks and Ebook Readers Will Eventually Succeed click the link to read the full article.

He lists 15 features Ebook Readers must have to succeed, which are, in no particular order :-
Instant on/off - Correct size - High-contrast, high-resolution, bright color display - Great (natural) user interface - Random access - Storage - Durability - Easy annotation - Acceptable cost - Easy access to dictionary and synonyms/antonyms - Acceptable business models - Built-in wireless communications - Broader distribution - Acceptable digital rights management (DRM) and intellectual property protection - Integrated animation and video

Accord to Gerry Purdy there is still some way to go before Ebook Readers have all these features, but, he says, once these criteria are met the market will explode and there will be 75% adoption worldwide in less than 10 years from when the Ebook Reader has the right set of technologies.

Personally I think they will take off sooner, particularly with college students as they appreciate the ability to replace a dozen or so heavy books with one Ebook Reader which does a lot more in addition.

I suspect in fact that Santa will be delivering a lot of Ebook Readers this year !

New Amazon Kindle Ebook Reader

Ebook Reader -Amazon to Launch a New Kindle Ebook Reader

According to analysts 380,000 Amazon Kindle ebook readers have been sold and it is fast becoming the Apple "iPod of the book world" being particularly popular with students as it means they don’t have to lug around exensive, and heavy, books.

More pictures of the new Kindle Ebook Reader available over at Boy Genius

Two new versions of the ebook reader will ship before the end of 2008, one which will be the same size but with an improved user interface, and one which will the same size as a sheet of paper 8x11inches.

One criticism of the Kindle digital book reader is that it is a bit bland, so there are rumours that Amazonwill be offering different colours.

Sales have geneerally been better than expected, with financial analyst at Citigroup stating, "Although (Amazon) has not disclosed Kindle sales, our collection of data points leads us to double our '08 unit assumption from 190,000 to 380,000. In its first year, that's exactly how many iPods were sold. Turns out the Kindle is becoming the iPod of the book world."

One market where the Kinlde has not yet made any headway is the $5.5 bn textbook market. This may be set to change, as the two main complaints from students are textbook prices and the weight of the books. The Kindle ebook reader offers clear advantages in both areas, as electronic versions of books are generally cheaper than the actual books and they obviously weigh a lot less.

In addition to these factors, books suffer from the fact that they do not have a built-in MP3 player and wireless 3G connectivity.

The screens of the latest Kindle’s are not backlit, and are therefore easy to read, including in sunlight.

There are now estimated to be 140,000 titles available for the Kindle ebook reader, a number which is set to grow over time.

According to Citigroup the Kindle could generate between $400 million and $750 million for Amazon by 2010, which would represent between 1% and 3% of Amazon’s total revenue.

Newsweek Signs Ebook Reader Deal

Ebook Reader - Newsweek Amazon Kindle Ebook Reader Deal

Amazon signs Deal with Newsweek for Book Anthologies on its Kindle Ebook Reader

In a move which will undoubtebdly give a boost to the sales of the Amazon Kindle Ebook Reader Newsweek has decided to publish digital anthologies of its election coverage as ebooks on the Kindle digital book reader. These books will not appear in print, they will only be available as Ebooks which will be wirelessly downloaded to be read on your Kindle Ebook Reader. This means of course that you need a Kindle to read them, so a good move by Amazon.

The collections will be published by Newsweek as four different books, one for each candidate in the Presidential race – Joe Biden, John MCCain, Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.

The Ebooks are already available for advance order, they will be available on Wednesday at a price of $9.99.

Newsweek Editor John Meacham said : "We have reported deeply and written searchingly about these candidates, and the Kindle platform has created the opportunity to give readers something with the breadth of a political biography, but with digital immediacy. This is a vote for the kind of content we produce well, and which means so much to readers."

Ian Freed of Amazon said : “We think it’s a very interesting model that could broaden. This could start to change the way at least some books are published.”

The Kindle digital book reader was introduced in November and currently costs $359. There are 180,000 books available for wireless download, plus more than 40 magazines and newspapers.

New Sony Reader PRS-700

New Sony Ebook Reader PRS-700 with Touch Screen

The Amazon Kindle is not the only ebook reader on the market. Sony’s Reader Third Generation Digital Ebook has just been launched, with the model number PRS-700, as an addition to the previous model the Sony Reader PRS-505.

New features include an interactive touch screen display to create a highly intuitive digital reading experience.

This new Sony Reader has the same size as slim paperback book and weeighs only 10 ounces.

The sizeable 6 inch display with touch screen lets you flip pages with your finger. You can also search terms inside a document or book, make notes via the virtual keyboard and highlight text using the stylus pen.

There are 5 pre-set text sizes and you can zoom in even further just by tapping the screen.

The new Sony Reader has the same high-resolution and high contrast electronic paper which means that reading the screen is practically the same as looking at ink-on-paper. Sony’s new Reader is the first to feature a built-in LED reading light for cases when there is no ambient light.

The expanded memory has capacity for 350 average digital books and with the optional removable Memory Stick Duo media or SD memory cards, the new Reader can store thousands of books and documents.

Sony have also revamped their eBook store with improved visual appeal and a streamlined checkout process.

The new Ebook Reader will cost around $399 in the US and £199 in the UK and along with the Amazon Kindle should prove very popular as a Christmas present.

Kindle Ebook Reader for Christmas

Amazon Kindle Ebook Reader Sales

The Kindle Ebook Reader - the Must Have Christmas Present for 2008?

Amazon's Kindle E-book reader is expected to sell more than 375,000 in 2008, at least according to CitiGroup analysts. Waterstones says that e-books are the future and will be selling Sony Readers in its high street stores.

The impressive Kindle sales figures are the result of positive product reviews of the product and the fact that the Kindle Ebook Reader is still topping Amazons best-selling list. Analyst Mark Mahaney says that his sales forecasts are more or less the same as those of the iPod in its first year.

Amazon are not the only ones getting into electronic books in 2008 - Waterstones has been selling Sony's Reader since September, and is putting content for sale on its website. It's a good idea to sell the Reader in shops as you can't get an idea of the quality of the electronic-ink screens without seeing them.

The Kindle sold out quickly after it was launched on Amazon at the end of 2007. And the company recently increased supply to meet demand. They also cut the price of the Kindle from $399 to $359, which is still expensive! According to some analysts the Kindle Ebook Reader achieves sales of 55,000 a month. In addition consumers are just learning how to use it. As Kindle buyers get used to all the features of the Ebook Reader — and as the number of books and magazines and newspapers increases — they buy more.

For a review of the Amazon Kindle Ebook Reader see Kindle Review