Kindle Tips

In these dog days of summer, not much is happening.  According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Amazon continues to work on new versions of the Kindle:

Amazon is working on a new version of the Kindle, and sees a big opportunity to market its e-book reader to college students, McAdams Wright Ragen analyst Tim Bueneman said Friday in an e-mailed note based on meetings with management.

“There are already several new, improved versions of the Kindle in the works,” he wrote.

Also included in that report is this fascinating tidbit about estimated Kindle sales figures:

Amazon managers “told us that the Kindle is definitely selling very well, but they also said the analysts and reporters giving out these extremely high estimates ‘did not run them by company,’” Bueneman wrote.

In other news, I dreamed last night that I dropped my kindle into the pool… and it floated.  I was thrilled.  and as soon as i fished it out, I thought of putting it on the blog.

When is Conde Nast going to put its magazines on the Kindle?  I’ve let my New Yorker lapse, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to subscribe soon on the Kindle.

The pile builds up faster than I can read it, now that I no longer take the subway.   Here’s hoping for added perks of the kindle!

Amazon’s Kindle blog reports that Amazon is offering $100 off a Kindle when you sign up for a new Amazon Visa credit card:

…customers can get $100 off Kindle for a limited time when they sign up (and are approved for) the new Amazon Rewards Visa card. The setup is quick and easy: customers can sign up for the new Amazon.com Rewards Visa card right from the Kindle product page at www.amazon.com/kindle. If approved (which usually takes less than 1 minute), they can then add Kindle to their cart and proceed to checkout.  Let your friends and family know they can sign up for the Amazon Rewards Visa card and start Kindling for even less.

Lots of interesting chatter about the Kindle these last weeks.

First, TechCrunch says “240,000 Kindles have been shipped since November, according to a source close to Amazon with direct knowledge of the numbers.”

However — this is also the blog that says that a second version of the Kindle is due in October 2008 … in multiple colors.   Honestly, I’m skeptical of these claims — also of a third model coming next year, or possibly for the holiday season, in an 8.5×11″ size.

This October projection has been quoted widely over the internet, but there seems to be only the one source – “an undentified insider.”  However, Jeff Bezos said in May that the next version wasn’t that near.

I’ve been asked a number of times in the last few weeks what I know of the new version of the Kindle.   Don’t get me wrong, I’d LOVE to see a new version, and particularly one with an improved interface and refresh rate.  (particularly with improvements for making and exporting notes, sorting files in folders, and better page counts)

Is Bezos pulling a Steve Jobs, not saying that there’ll be a new version until it’s ready to hit the market? possibly — since a statement that a new version will be released three months from now will likely cut the sale during the next three months by quite a bit.

It’s hard to know.  I’d advise that anyone who has a reader already should hang onto it for the next few months, and see what happens in October.  However, if you’re considering getting a Kindle as your first ebook reader — it truly is an amazing device, and I can’t recommend it enough.

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There’s also an interesting article in the Financial Times about the Kindle’s supremecy – and Sony’s major stumble with their ereader, in terms of marketing and getting a jump on their rival’s technology:

The danger for Sony is that it is already too late. Amazon has grabbed the market-leading position from Sony and established a stronger brand, which is what happened with the iPod and the Walkman. Sony never managed to recover, despite trying repeatedly to match Apple.

What do you think?