A lot of rumors began circulating about the possibility of a new Kindle on the horizon after the popular Kindle DX seemed to suddenly be sold out on Amazon's web site some time ago leading to the speculation that Amazon had a new version in the works. Wednesday those suspicions were confirmed as Amazon.com officially unveiled the all new Kindle which has Amazon executives seeing a positive future for the Kindle brand.
Reviews have been mixed on the Kindle in the past due to slow page turning and a slow, clumsy browsing experience so one of the things that will be interesting to check out in this latest version of Kindle is the WebKit experimental browser. Whether the speed and usability of the browser has improved along with the other features is something many users will be keeping an eye on and may be one key part of development for future Kindle projects. With a a goal to “have every book, ever written, in any language” it is clear that Amazon is making Kindle one of its top priorities.
The third generation of the Kindle makes some hefty promises like glare elimination, 3G and WiFi connectability and an impressive battery life of up to an entire month off of just one charge. All of this while being 15 percent lighter, weighing in at only 8.7 ounces, and claiming to have improved user functionality with improved readability has the latest generation of Kindle gearing up for a big sales push. Amazon has pursued the Kindle product line rather aggressively in the past and is continuing to do with this new release which came a year and a half after the Kindle DX was introduced and the new release should help boost sales over the next few months for Amazon.
Whether or not Amazon will actually pull it off is yet to be seen as they are taking advance orders and the new Kindles themselves will not actually be available until the end of August which could be great timing for some of the back to school crowd although some feel that the college market is not warming up to Kindle just yet. Boasting the ability to deliver books in 60 seconds, is the Kindle really ready to change the way the world reads?
While the Kindle is priced comparably to its competitors' offerings, including the Nook from Barnes & Noble , it is unlikely that the world of electronic books is going to replace traditional media any time soon. While there is some convenience in housing 3000 books all in one tiny little place, eReaders can not replace that feel of the paper between your fingers as you turn the page and hold it in your hands as if you were engaging in an ancient waltz with an old, dear friend. No browser can replace the way a book cover catches your eye and lines your shelves, and the sweet smell of being surrounded by glorious books of every age, shape and size after you have been on some grand adventure to find the newest gem for your collection- no the experience of a real book has no electronic equal. All of the things that reader's love about reading, the entire experience of a real book, simply can not be simulated or replaced in the lives of true bibliophiles . So perhaps the Kindle in one of its many future incarnations will take over the literary world and eliminate traditional publishing but that day, thankfully, is not today.
