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The Kindle is a wireless electronic book-reading device released by Amazon.com on November 19, 2007.

The device uses a similar wireless technology to cell phones, enabling it to connect to the Kindle store and download a book from a large number of locations. A user could start reading one of nearly 100,000 books (at release), magazines, newspapers, blogs and more, within about one minute of purchase.

While not the first e-book reader, the device introduced new capabilities. Backed by the power of Amazon.com, one of the best-known sites on the Internet, the Kindle sold out during its first holiday season, resulting in back orders.

The Kindle varies considerably from reading a paper book. A reader can look up words in the text, in a dictionary, through the Internet site Wikipedia, and generally on the web. A reader can "clip" a page of a book and copy it to a computer, and create annotations that can be shared with other readers. Users can also listen to audio books and MP3s.

Many people with a love of paper books have shown to be accepting of the Kindle technology, a turning point in the use of e-books. E-books also mean e-publishing, and there could be a similar effect on literature publishing that the iPod had on music publishing. Amateurs may be able to more easily find a market for their work.

The device does use a proprietary file format, however, it can read text files and some other types without conversion. Other types can be converted and sent to the user's e-mail for free, or sent directly to the Kindle for a small fee. The Kindle can exchange information with a computer through a USB connection.

Despite a Newsweek cover story, the mainstream media did not extensively cover the device in the 2007 winter gift-giving season. More specialized media, such as Dvice did report on it.

Concerns about the Kindle included its initial high price point ($399), and hesitation about being an early adopter. However, initial sales show that even the experienced retailer Amazon underestimated the demand.

External Links

• Official Site
• Newsweek article

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