Fully Equipped

Fujitsu's FLEPia offers color, but it costs $1,000.

(Credit: Fujitsu)

Those of you holding out for a color version of the Kindle may be disappointed to learn that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is telling the world it won't be arriving anytime soon. In fact, a color-screened Kindle is "multiple years" away, he said Thursday, adding: "I've seen the color displays in the laboratory, and I can assure you they're not ready for prime time."

We weren't expecting a color-screened Kindle in the near future, particularly one that anyone can afford (Fujitsu has just launched the FLEPia color e-book reader in Japan, but it costs $1,000). That said, I strongly suspect we'll see color-screened e-book readers very soon that don't use E-ink technology. Manufacturers could simply go with an advanced touch-screen LCD. Apple's rumored netbook/jumbo iTouch would fall into this camp. And we suspect cheaper, sub-$300 versions will turn up if the whole e-book trend remains hot.

Whether they'll be any good is another story. The downside to backlit LCDs is that cause eyestrain and arguably aren't ideal for reading (and they tend to get washed out in direct sunlight). But by the same token, a lot of people spend much of the day staring at an LCD monitor, so a model that was easier on the eyes would probably be tolerated for the right price, especially if you consider an LCD has no problem displaying video and Flash animations. (E-ink currently can't do moving images).

What do you guys think? Will color e-book readers of the future use E-ink or shift to another technology?

Source: AFP via Gizmodo

A blurry photo of what appears to be a dry run of tomorrow's presentation.

(Credit: Engadget)

Here's the latest on Amazon's new, larger Kindle, which is expected to be announced Wednesday morning at Pace University in Manhattan, according to numerous sources.

• Thanks to an apparently surreptitious cameraphone photographer, Engadget has posted some blurry photos of what looks to be the dry run of tomorrow's presentation. They're not all that exciting--the new Kindle just looks like a jumbo Kindle 2.
• This Kindle may be called the Kindle DX, according to Engadget's anonymous source.
• The same source says it has a 9.7-inch screen (compared to the 6-inch screen on the Kindle 2).
• Allegedly, the device has a more robust built-in PDF reader and "the ability to add annotations in addition to notes and highlights."
• The Wall Street Journal has an article on the textbook angle of the new Kindle.
• Rumor has it that The New York Times will be lowering its Kindle subscription rate from $13.99 to $9.99. That would be a good move if true.
• The Wall Street Journal says the new Kindle will have a more functional browser.
• It's also reporting that select students at select universities will receive the new, larger Kindles with pre-installed textbooks for chemistry, computer science and a freshman seminar. Pace, Case Western, Princeton, Reed, Arizona State, and Darden School at the University of Virginia will initially lead the lineup for the college Kindle program.
• There's no word on price or whether this will be a touch-screen model.

As always, feel free to comment. We'll have full details Wednesday on the new Kindle after it's officially announced.

Plastic Logic has be showing off a larger form factor e-reader--but Amazon may get to market first.

(Credit: Plastic Logic)

Rumors have been circulating for a while that Amazon has a larger form factor Kindle in the works--and we may get a first look at it as soon as this week, according to sources who spoke with The New York Times.

Initially, a lot of the chatter around a new jumbo Kindle was focused on the textbook market. But in recent months, as more newspapers and magazines have become threatened with extinction, these larger e-readers--which also include models from Plastic Logic and News Corp.--have increasingly been pitched as digital saviors for old-media companies looking for what the Times calls "electronic life preservers."

The Times didn't specifically refer to itself as one of the companies requiring such a preserver, but it is expected to be featured in the introduction of the new Amazon device along with other major newspapers and magazines that are already available on the Kindle e-readers for a monthly fee.

Clearly, it's that ability to charge a fee and the potential cost savings of a paperless platform that makes digital readers so attractive to newspapers and magazines. As the Times and other have pointed out, publishers could "save millions on the cost of printing and distributing their publications, at precisely a time when their businesses are under historic levels of pressure."

But there are some inherent problems with shifting paper readers over to e-readers. ... Read more

As fast-growing Facebook closes in on MySpace in the U.S. in terms of unique visitors later this year, it's burning through millions of dollars a month (some claim it's as high as $20 million), with no magic levers to reverse the trend in the short term.

In November 2007, when Facebook took a $240 million stake from Microsoft, the investment was at a $15 billion valuation. Now it's down to $4 billion and probably less. As Caroline McCarthy reported a few days ago, rumor has it that "one potential investor submitted a term sheet for a valuation in the neighborhood of $2 billion."

As Facebook works its way toward a probable IPO, the big question is: how can it show it can make money? Well, one way--and I'm not the first to suggest it--would be to charge a nominal monthly fee. With that in mind, I ask a simple question: how much would you be willing to pay to use Facebook per month?

A lot of people I ask say they'd pay $1 a month--or, preferably, a yearly fee of $10 if paid in one shot. But some say they have Facebook fatigue and would rather quit than pay a dime.

Comments?

Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' briefly made an appearance as the No. 1 legal thriller in the Kindle Store.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Yes, Sony and Google have teamed up to offer 500,000 free e-books on the Sony Reader. Free is nice, and half a million is an impressive number, but lots of free and cheap e-books can wreak havoc on your database and best-seller lists--just ask Amazon.com, which found itself with Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" briefly sitting atop its best-seller list for legal thrillers in the Kindle Store, experienced earlier Thursday.

The Kindle Edition of "Mein Kampf" isn't free on Amazon. What's interesting is that there are actually two versions: one costs $1.58, and the other costs $1.60.

Both are fairly popular, but it's the cheaper version that captured the No. 1 spot on the legal-thriller list, then bizarrely disappeared within minutes of our capturing the screen grab. (Amazon, which updates its rankings hourly, had yet to respond to a request for a comment when we went to press, but we'll add any response we get when and if it comes).

Amazon also has some issues with competing Kindle best-seller lists. For instance, when you click on the Kindle Books link at the top of the page, you get a list of best-selling titles with stuff like Steve Harvey's "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man" and "The Shack" listed at the top (they cost $9.99 and $8.24, respectively). Meanwhile, it appears that Robin Hobb's free "Assassin's Apprentice" is the true No. 1 book in the Kindle Store. ... Read more

I'm not sure why, but some analysts seemed a little surprised about Amazon.com's announcement on Wednesday that it would begin offering Amazon e-books on the iPhone and iPod Touch, and move beyond the confines of the Kindle.

First of all, the company had effectively confirmed off-Kindle reading access in February, so it shouldn't have surprised anyone. Second, anybody who knows anything knows that it's all about the razor blades (the e-books) and not the razor (the Kindle).

Like the game console world, the real profits aren't in the hardware but rather the software. Yes, the Kindle 2's hot now, but to reach a larger audience, Amazon will eventually have to reduce the price for the reader and shrink its margins.

By contrast, the margins on e-books should remain pretty beefy, and you can imagine all the cost savings involved when you don't have to deal with warehousing and shipping physical books. It's a great business model.

The bestsellers list in Apple's App Store.

(Credit: Apple)

But there's just one problem. While Amazon might be able to find a market for $9.99 books on the Kindle, the iPhone-iPod Touch world is a very different place. Very few people are willing to pay that kind of money for any sort of application, let alone an e-book.

In the Apple application world, the sweet spot for selling anything seems to be less than $4.99--and more like $.99 or $1.99. Sure, you're going to get some bestselling series with almost cult-like followings (read: "Harry Potter" and "Twilight"), but the vast majority of books being "sold" on the iPhone are very cheap--and rightly so because the overall iPhone-reading experience doesn't justify you spending $10 (or even $5) on an e-book. (See Nicole Lee's in-depth piece on comparing the Kindle 2 reading experience to that of the iPhone's).

Of course, the Kindle app isn't the first way to read e-books on the iPhone--there are already dozens of paid and free reader applications (and books-as-apps) available on the App Store. And taking a look at the list of top paid (nonfree) book or reader apps will give you an idea of how pricing works.

Books in the "Twilight" series, and one app called "50 Great Books for 10 Bucks," are the only ones in the top 20 that have a $9.99 price tag. Arguably, the perfect book for Apple's smartphone, "iPhone: The Missing Manual" (written by The New York Times' David Pogue), sells for $4.99. But it took a big hit in sales when the publisher tested a $9.99 price point.

... Read more

updated 2/20/09

I know, I know. This is a column about cutting-edge electronics. So, apologies to gadget-heads as I take a brief sojourn into the land of self-publishing, which has become a lot more high-tech than a lot of people realize.

The reason I'm here is that I have a book. A novel. Knife Music. Contrary to what you might think based on my day job, it's not a cyber-thriller, though it is a mystery/thriller with a medical/legal slant.

Its short history is this: I worked on it for several years, acquired a high-powered agent, had some brushes with major publishers, then, crickets. Way back when, say, a dozen years ago, a single editor could acquire a book, but today a whole board is usually required to sign off on a project, especially when a big advance is involved. Worse yet, the traditional book-publishing business has fallen on hard times, with layoffs and news that vaunted old publishers such as Houghton Mifflin have literally put the freeze on acquisitions. In short, it's ugly out there, particularly for new fiction writers.

I could have tried to go for a small publisher, but I was told mine was "a bigger book" with more commercial aspirations and prestigious small publishers were interested in more literary tomes. I also learned that many small publishers were being wiped out by the "self-publishing revolution," a movement that's not so unlike the "citizen journalism" or bloggers' revolt of recent years that's had a major impact on mainstream media, including this publication. The basic premise is anyone can become a small publisher. You call the shots. You retain the rights to your book. And you take home a bigger royalty than you'd normally get from a traditional publisher--if you sell any books.

(Credit: David Carnoy/CBS Interactive)

Additional coverage: Amazon Kindle 2

While Amazon isn't doling out review samples of its new Kindle 2 digital reader for a few weeks, I did get a chance to play with it at the launch event and come away with some first impressions.

Let me start by saying that the Kindle 2 is a nice upgrade over the original Kindle, but we're not talking a jump from, say, black-and-white television to color, so early adopters who own the original Kindle shouldn't feel too dejected.

Yes, the Kindle 2 is thinner--it measures a svelte 0.36 inches at its thickest point--and weighs in at 10.2 ounces. It also has 25 percent improved battery life and is about 20 percent faster, thanks to an upgraded processor. And it's got 16 shades of gray instead of 4, so the text pops a little more. But this is an evolution, not a revolution.

One thing that hasn't changed much is the height and width of the new Kindle. Some people have complained that the original Kindle should have been shorter and forgone the keyboard, like the Sony Reader. Whether you're a fan of the keyboard or not, it's worth noting that the Kindle 2 is about the same size as the original, measuring 8 inches top to bottom. According to the specs, the screen itself is a 6-inch, diagonal, E-Ink, electronic-paper display, with 600x800 pixel resolution at 167 ppi.

One gripe that Amazon has clearly addressed is the issue with the page-advance button. On the original Kindle, that button was extra long and easy to depress, which meant it was very easy to accidentally turn pages. On the Kindle 2, the page-turn buttons are smaller, and in playing with the device I noticed that it took a bit more effort to actually click the button and advance a page.

... Read more

My Deep Throat simply goes by the handle "The Dude," and it's unclear whether he's a disgruntled employee of Apple, Amazon, or the hotel where the meeting allegedly took place--or whether he's employed at all. But he says, "It's time this meeting came to light, man." When I asked him why he chose this column as the venue for these revelations, he said, "I like your style. And I hear you bowl on the Wii. We should roll sometime."

Anyway, here's the account of the meeting. There was a tape involved, though it was hard to decipher in patches due to the fact that it was well worn and may have been previously used in The Dude's answering machine.

Sunday, November 18, 2007--8:30 am

The meeting was supposed to take place at 8 a.m. at Hyatt Regency near the San Francisco airport, the same place where the two had come four years earlier to get a sneak peek at "Ginger," which we now know as the Segway.

The boardroom inside the Hyatt near the San Francisco airport.

(Credit: Hyatt)

When he came into the heavily guarded boardroom where the meeting was to take place, Jobs was wearing his signature sneakers, jeans and black mock turtleneck. The jeans had a hole in the front where a white pocket was sticking out. Bezos would later recount that for a second he thought they might have been the same jeans Jobs had worn at their meeting for the Segway in 2003. But they did look clean and washed. Bezos was dressed more formally, in a pressed shirt, but he wasn't wearing a tie.

The two billionaires sat down.

Jobs: Where is it?

Bezos: No, "Hi, Jeff, how's it going?"

Jobs: Hi, Jeff. How's it going? Now, where is it?

[Bezos pulled the Kindle out of a padded briefcase. He held down the Alt and home buttons to take it out of its screen-saver mode and handed it to Jobs. The Apple CEO held it in his hand, staring at it.]

Jobs: Three years, huh?

Bezos: Yeah. What do you think?

Jobs: I think it sucks.

Bezos (smiling): Why?

Jobs: It just does.

Bezos: I had a feeling you'd say that. Can you get more specific?

Jobs: Its shape is not innovative, it's not elegant, it doesn't feel anthropomorphic. And what's with this big button here? I just turned a page and didn't mean to. What's this book?

Bezos: A little Ayn Rand.

Jobs: Jesus. How many times can I say it? There are design firms out there that could come up with things we've never thought of--things that would make you crap in your pants. And this is what you come up with after three years.

Bezos: I think it looks pretty good.

Jobs: You wanted my honest assessment. Well, that's it. It'll never work.

Bezos: Why?

Jobs: I already told you. People don't read anymore. It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed.

Bezos: You have 5 percent of the PC market. I'm looking at the 5 percent of people who read a lot. How's that any different?

[Silence]

Jobs: What percentage of that wants to read on a clunky looking reader that costs $400?

Bezos: Not everything has to be supersexy looking to sell.

Jobs: Maybe not on your planet. On mine, it does.

Bezos: We're going to plaster this thing on our homepage day-in-day-out. It'll sell. Anything we put on our homepage sells.

Jobs: I'll give you that. But your soul, Jeff? Isn't that going a little too far? How 'bout a nice 15 percent discount on the Nano or some Macbooks. We'll make some real dough.

[Jobs continued playing with the device.]

Bezos: What do you think of the screen?

Jobs: (Tapping the screen with his finger numerous times). Nothing's happening.

Bezos: That's because it's not a touch screen.

Jobs: Well, it sucks then. And the interface sucks. Why is there a keyboard? It adds an extra 20 percent to the dimensions.

Bezos: To take notes, type in URLs to surf the Web. I told you, there's a built-in wireless connection. Sprint EVDO.

Jobs (laughing): Surf the Web? On an Etch-a-Sketch?

Bezos: It works.

[Jobs whipped out his iPhone.]

Jobs: This works, too. And it fits in my pocket. And it's in color.

Bezos: The Web is a value-added feature.

Jobs: No features are value added. They're either features or they're not.

Bezos: If we didn't have it, people would criticize us for not having it.

[Jobs mulled over the comment.]

Jobs: How 'bout Europe? Asia?

Bezos: U.S. first. We see how it does.

Jobs: How's someone going to take this country to country? You're going to get roaming charges. How's that going to work? Different Kindle for every country? Where's the scalability?

Bezos: Maybe we go Bluetooth and no wireless abroad. You connect your mobile to the device via Bluetooth.

Jobs: If people don't read books, why are they going to read ebooks?

Bezos: There newspapers on magazines on there, too--and blogs. Imagine the commuter going to work--"

[Jobs turned the screen of his iPhone toward Bezos.]

Jobs: Again, right here. And the content's free.

Bezos: Bigger screen. No backlight. Better reading experience.

Jobs: You got any widgets?

Bezos (ignoring him): It'll have its own store. With thousands of books. And anybody will be able to create an ebook and upload it to the store. We're going to take up to a 65 percent cut on the content.

Jobs: Will authors stand for that?

Bezos: What choice will they have? It's better than what they get now from traditional publishers.

[Jobs turned the device over and looked at the back of it.]

Jobs: Battery?

Bezos: Removable.

Jobs: Dumb.

[He was taking a closer look at the protective case when the Kindle suddenly dislodged itself and fell on to the table with a loud thud.]

Jobs: Oops.

Bezos (sheepishly): We're working on that.

Jobs: I'm standing on the street and I drop the iPhone it's got a decent shot at not breaking. I take that bet. What happens when a customer calls and says her $400 device slipped out the crappy 50-cent case and went boom. What do you do then?

Bezos: We offer to ship her another at a discounted rate--basically, at cost.

Jobs: You old softy.

Bezos: We aim to please.

Jobs: Best customer support in the world won't make this thing fly.

Bezos: You were the one who said people wouldn't watch video on a tiny little iPod screen--and then you brought out an iPod with video capabilities.

Jobs: That was a smokescreen.

Bezos: How do I know this isn't one, too?

Jobs: You don't.

Bezos: You could do one for us. You do the hardware, we do the store. Sony's toast.

Jobs: Their thing looks better than yours. But it sucks, too.

Bezos: Think about it. "The Apple Reader powered by Amazon."

Jobs: How 'bout "The Apple Reader powered by Apple?"

Bezos: People don't read books.

Jobs: Until I make it cool to read 'em.

Bezos: I'll sell more Kindles than Apple TVs.

Jobs: High bar, Jeff. How many do you think you'll sell?

Bezos: We're trying to being conservative.

Jobs: Let me give you some advice. Don't tell people how many you've sold.

Bezos: Why?

Jobs: Mystery's good. Scarcity, too. It's not a bad thing to be out of stock. Put a rope up. Don't let people in the door. They want to get in.

Bezos: Anything else?

Jobs: You seed it to reviewers?

Bezos: Not yet. Everything goes out tomorrow to everyone at once.

Jobs: Shame. Always better to give it first to a few light heavyweights, if you know what I mean.

Bezos: It'll be all right. Had to get it out. The next one will be better.

Jobs: We'll see.

Bezos: We'll see.

Jobs: I give you what you want? Are we done here?

Bezos: Yeah. Sorry, I needed that. No one can tell me I can't do something like you can.

Jobs: Feels good, right?

Bezos: Thanks, man.

Jobs: It won't work.

Bezos: I know.

Jobs: Safe flight.

While Steve Jobs has been critical of the Kindle's chances, for anybody who doesn't realize already, this is a completely fictional conversation. That said, feel free to comment on whether you agree with these theoretical opinions of the device and whether the Kindle 2 might appeal more to him--or not.