Anonymous reports indicated to Bloomberg that the next-generation of Kindle’s electronic-book reader will roll-out yet this summer. The Kindle uses a black-and-white screen that mimics the appearance of paper. The new version will have sharper contrast that makes e-books look more like real books, the people familiar with the product said.
According to the report, the device will be thinner and offer a more ‘responsive’ screen with greater clarity, but won’t include color nor a touch-screen? Facing stiff competition from Apple’s iPad, it is hard to understand why Kindle wouldn’t have made this technological leap?
Graphic novels like "Crude Behavior" are selling well at Amazon’s Kindle Store, but in 16 shades of gray, it pales in comparison to finding that same graphic novel available at FifoBooks in 99 pages of living color, with touch-screen functionality – and at the same price!
According to Peter Burrows and Joseph Galante who compiled the report for Bloomberg, they noted that the "new Kindle may be aimed more at Amazon.com’s original e-reader competitors — Sony Corp. and Barnes & Noble," (versus iPad)" based on input from James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research."
“It’s probably likely that Amazon already had this one in mind, more out of a response to Sony than out of any response to Apple,” McQuivey said. Amazon.com may not still not view iPad as their most critical competitor this year.
Kindle vs Nook & Sony ReaderSony is taking on the Kindle with a touch-screen reader, which it introduced last year. Barnes & Noble’s Nook device made its debut in October.The Kindle currently sells for $259, the same price as the Nook. Sony sells its touch-screen device for $199. The iPad starts at $499.
About 6 million eReaders will be sold this year, up from 3 million last year, according to Forrester Research Inc. The Kindle has inched up to 60 percent of the U.S. market. So as popular as this device continues to be, one can only wonder how much more of the market it could garner if it put its engineers on task to create the first "color" Kindle, with touch-screen functionality.
For further updates on Kindle and the competitive eReader market, check out, "Kindle vs Nook & Sony Reader." That particular posting has attracted over 250,000 page-views since Christmas, 2009 – and continues to be updated.
