I have just watched Jeff Bezos (and Stephen King) introduce the Kindle 2 at the Morgan Library in New York. It had the feel of an event at which people were just waking up to the possibility of an entirely new category of device or software, like Windows 3 or the Apple iPod.
The attendance at the launch certainly suggested that. Quite a large auditorium was packed with journalists, publishers, photographers and assorted hangers-on and, after the presentation had finished, there was a crowd of people hanging around to try out the device.
After waiting my turn, I got to hold it and play around with the new Kindle for five minutes. My feelings were mixed.
On the one hand, I could well buy one when they go on sale later this month – even for $359 – because the experience of reading books, newspapers and magazines on electronic paper is starting to become really quite tolerable, and even attractive.
On the other hand, electronic paper displays, although already clearly superior to back-lit computer screens for reading, are still in their early days. They remain black and white, which jars given that most newspapers and magazines are now in colour. The pages still refresh slowly, although faster than before.
Having said that, the Kindle 2 is clearly a big step-up on the first Kindle, which was launched by Amazon in November 2007. It has become, as I observed in a column on the topic. the leading electronic paper reader, beating rivals such as the Sony Reader.
The reason for that is that it integrates seamlessly with the Amazon online store, from which 230,000 books can be downloaded, and material is sent wirelessly to the devices. This means you can buy and download an entire book within 60 seconds.
So far, the devices are only on sale in the US, where Amazon has a deal with Sprint to deliver data over its 3G wireless network. Amazon is still being cagey about which international markets it intends to go to with the Kindle, and when. Some kind of roll-out is clearly being considered.
Mr Bezos gave an enthusiastic demonstration of the Kindle 2, including a feature allowing users to have any book read out loud to them (in a somewhat robotic voice). The show was, however, stolen by Mr King, who has written a new story for the Kindle 2 launch.
Of the gap between books and e-readers such as the Kindle, Mr King observed that it was “like peanut butter and chocolate. When you put them together you’ve got a whole new taste treat.” Just so.
