The Amazon Kindle is a portable e-book reader. More precisely, it is a software, hardware and network platform developed by Amazon.com subsidiary Lab126 that uses wireless connectivity to enable users to shop for, download, browse, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and other digital media in some countries. The Kindle hardware devices use an e-ink electronic paper display that, in addition to displaying up to 16 shades of gray, minimizes power consumption and simulates reading on paper.
Several hardware devices support this platform, including a main "Kindle" line and a parallel "Kindle DX" line. The most recent Kindle device is the third incarnation of the main line, officially named "Kindle", but usually referred to as "Kindle 3". Kindle 3 was released on August 27, 2010. User reports indicate that the new display on the Kindle 3, with E Ink Pearl technology, is noticeably superior to previous generations.
The Kindle DX line features larger screens than the main Kindle line and is marketed as more suitable for displaying newspaper and textbook content.Amazon has also introduced Kindle software for use on various devices and platforms, including Microsoft Windows, iOS, BlackBerry, Mac OS X (10.5 onwards), Android and Windows Phone 7.
Content for the Kindle can be purchased online and downloaded wirelessly in some countries, using either standard Wi-Fi or Amazon's 3G "Whispernet" network.Whispernet is accessible without any monthly fee or wireless subscription,[10] although fees can be incurred for the delivery of periodicals and other content when roaming internationally beyond the customer's home country. Through a service called "Whispersync", customers can synchronize reading progress, bookmarks and other information across Kindle hardware devices and other mobile devices
Original version
Amazon released the Kindle First Generation on November 19, 2007, for US$399 and was sold out in five and a half hours.The device remained out of stock for five months until late April 2008.
It is the only Kindle with expandable memory, via an SD card slot.
The device features a 6 inch (diagonal) 4-level grayscale display, with 250 MB of internal memory, which can hold approximately 200 non-illustrated titles.
Amazon did not sell the Kindle First Generation outside the United States.Plans for a launch in the UK and other European countries were delayed by problems with signing up suitable wireless network operators.
Kindle 2
On February 10, 2009, Amazon announced the Kindle 2.It became available for purchase on February 23, 2009. The Kindle 2 features a text-to-speech option to read the text aloud, and 2 GB of internal memory of which 1.4 GB is user-accessible. By Amazon's estimates the Kindle 2 can hold about 1500 non-illustrated books. Unlike the Kindle First Generation, Kindle 2 does not have a slot for SD memory cards.[19] It was slimmer than the original Kindle.
To promote the new Kindle, author Stephen King made UR, his then-new novella, available exclusively through the Kindle Store.[23] On October 22, 2009, Amazon stopped selling the original Kindle 2 in favor of the international version it had introduced earlier in the month.
According to an early review by iFixIt, the Kindle 2 features a Freescale 532 MHz, ARM-11 90 nm processor, 32 MB main memory, 2 GB moviNAND flash storage and a 3.7 V 1530 mAh lithium polymer battery.
On November 24, 2009, Amazon released a firmware update for the Kindle 2 that it said increases battery life by 85% and introduces native PDF support.
On July 8, 2009, Amazon reduced price of the Kindle 2 from the original $359 to $299. On October 7, 2009, Amazon further reduced the price of the Kindle 2 to $259. The Kindle 2 was criticized for its high original retail price, compared to the $185.49 manufacturing cost estimated by iSuppli.
International version
On October 7, 2009, Amazon announced an international version of the Kindle 2 that can download new titles in over 100 countries. It became available October 19, 2009. The international Kindle 2 is physically very similar to the U.S.-only model, although it uses a different mobile network standard.
The original Kindle 2 uses CDMA2000, for use on the Sprint network. The international version uses standard GSM and 3G GSM, enabling it to be used on AT&T's U.S. mobile network and internationally in 100 other countries.
Kindle 2 International Version is believed to have a noticeably higher contrast screen, although Amazon does not advertise this. Another review done by Gadget lab, disputes this and actually states that the font appears to be fuzzier than the first generation kindle. The review goes on to say that changes to the Kindle 2 have made it harder to read the smaller font sizes that most books use. On another website they also discuss how the font size is at times worse than the kindle 1's. It appears that whether or not the kindle 2 is clearer or fuzzier than the previous model depends on the font size.
On October 22, 2009, Amazon lowered the price on the international version from $279 to $259 and discontinued the U.S.-only model. On June 21, 2010, hours after Barnes & Noble lowered the price of its Nook, Amazon lowered the price of the Kindle 2 to $189
Kindle DX
Amazon announced the Kindle DX on May 6, 2009. This device has a larger screen than the standard Kindle and supports simple PDF files. It was also the thinnest Kindle to date and offers an accelerometer, which enables the user to seamlessly rotate pages between landscape and portrait orientations when the Kindle DX is turned on its side. It is marketed as more suitable for displaying newspaper and textbook content.
International version
Since January 19, 2010, the Kindle DX International has shipped in 100 countries. The Kindle DX comes with a 24.6 cm (9.7 inch) E Ink screen instead of the 15.2 cm (6 inch) normal Kindle screen.
Kindle DX Graphite
On July 1, 2010, Amazon released a new revision of the Kindle DX (3rd Generation Kindle DX). As well as dropping the price from $489 to $379, the new Kindle DX has an e-ink screen with 50% better contrast ratio and comes only in a "graphite" color. It is speculated the color change is to improve contrast ratio perception even further, as some users found the previous white casing highlighted the fact that the e-ink background is gray and not white. This version, however, lacks the ability to connect via Wi-fi and only 3G wireless connections are allowed
Kindle 3
Amazon announced a new generation of the Kindle on July 28, 2010. While Amazon does not officially add numbers to the end of each Kindle denoting its generation, most reviewers, customers and press companies refer to this updated Kindle as the "Kindle 3".
The Kindle 3 is available in two versions. One of these, the Kindle Wi-Fi, is initially priced at US$139 / GB£111, and connects to the Internet exclusively via public or private Wi-Fi networks.The other version, considered a replacement to the Kindle 2, is priced at US$189 / GB£152 and includes both 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity.The built-in free 3G connectivity uses the same wireless signals that cell phones use, allowing it to have download and purchase availability from any location with cell service.The new Kindle with 3G is available in two colors: classic white and graphite. Both models use the new E ink "Pearl" display, which has a higher contrast than previous displays and a faster refresh rate. However, it remains slower than traditional LCD displays.
The Kindle 3 utilizes a Freescale i. MX353 applications processor, Freescale MC13892 power management chip, Epson EINK controller and Samsung DRAM and Flash. Other hardware changes include a larger 1750 mAh lithium polymer battery, AnyDATA DTP-600W 3G GSM modem and Atheros AR6102G 802.11bg WiFi chip.
The third-generation Kindle is 0.5 inches shorter and 0.5 inches narrower than the Kindle 2. It supports additional fonts and international Unicode characters. An experimental browser based on the popular WebKit rendering engine is included, as well as text-to-speech menu navigation. Internal memory is expanded to 4 GB, with approximately 3 GB available for user content. Battery life is advertised at up to one month of reading on a single charge with the wireless turned off.
Pre-orders for the new Kindle concurrently began with the announcement of the device, and Amazon began shipping the devices on August 27, 2010 in the United States and United Kingdom.
With the announcement of the Kindle 3, Amazon also launched an Amazon.co.uk version of the Kindle store. However, it remains to be seen whether users moving out of the UK will be able to transfer existing purchases to Amazon.com. Existing UK users are currently offered the option of migrating to the UK Kindle store at no loss to their existing purchases.
On August 25, 2010, Amazon announced that the Kindle 3 was the fastest-selling Kindle ever.
In late January 2011, Amazon announced that digital books were outselling their traditional print counterparts for the first time ever on its site, with an average of 115 Kindle editions being sold for every 100 paperback editions.
Reception: The Kindle 3 generally received good reviews after launch. In their Kindle 3 Review, Review Horizon describes it as offering "the best reading experience in its class" while Engadget says "In the standalone category, the Kindle is probably the one to beat".
Kindle applications
Amazon released a "Kindle for PC" application in late 2009, available as a free download for Windows 7, Vista, and XP. This application allows thousands of books to be read on a personal computer in color, with no Kindle unit required, as e-books can simply be purchased from Amazon's store.Amazon later released a version for the Macintosh, in early 2010. In June 2010, Amazon released a "Kindle for Android" version. With the Android application release, versions for the Apple iPhone, the iPad, PC and Mac computers, and BlackBerry cellphones are also available. In January 2011, Amazon released Kindle for Windows Phone 7.
Kindle sales
Specific Kindle sales numbers are not released by the company, however, Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, stated in a shareholders' meeting in January 2010 that "millions of people now own Kindles."According to anonymous inside sources, over three million Kindles have been sold as of December 2009,while external estimates, as of Q4-2009, place the number at about 1.5 million. According to James McQuivey of Forrester Research, estimates are ranging around four million, as of mid-2010. On March 6th, 2011, AT&T stores will officially start sales of the Amazon Kindle.
File formats
Original Kindle
The original Kindle supported only unprotected Mobipocket books (MOBI, PRC), plain text files (TXT), Topaz format books (TPZ), and Amazon's proprietary DRM-restricted format (AZW). Version 2.3 firmware upgrade for Kindle 2 (U.S. and International) added native Portable Document Format (PDF) support. Earlier versions did not fully support PDF, but Amazon provided "experimental" conversion to the native AZW format, with the caveat that not all PDFs may format correctly. It does not support the EPUB ebook standard. However there is software available (e.g. Calibre) which can convert a non-DRM EPUB file into the unprotected Mobipocket format that the Kindle can read. Amazon offers an email-based service that will convert JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP graphics to AZW.Amazon will also convert HTML pages and Microsoft Word (DOC) documents through the same email-based mechanism, which will send a Kindle-formatted file to the device directly for $0.15 per MB or to a personal e-mail account for free. These services can be accessed by sending emails to
A book may be downloaded from Amazon to several devices at the same time. The devices sharing the book must be registered to the same Amazon account. A sharing limit typically ranges from one to six devices, depending on an undisclosed number of licenses set by the book publisher. When a limit is reached, the user has to remove the book from some device or unregister a device containing the book in order to add a book to another device.
All Kindles allow unencrypted .MOBI files (.MOBI, .PRC), .TXT files, or files in .AZW formats to be transferred to the Kindle over a USB connection. The new Kindle 3, and Kindle 2 devices with the 2.3 firmware or higher, also support PDF e-books and documents, with some limitations (font size changes are not possible, and some PDFs are displayed as images, often forcing the user to scroll horizontally). The original Kindle, and Kindle 2 devices without the 2.3 firmware upgrade, cannot read PDFs. However, on older devices, PDFs and several other file formats can be converted using a number of downloadable applications, free conversion by email, or a similar method that sends the converted content to the owner's Kindle for a fee.
Amazon purchased Mobipocket in 2005,and the Kindle AZW file format and DRM scheme are similar to the Mobipocket file format and DRM scheme, yet Kindle is not able to read DRM-protected Mobipocket books without resorting to third-party conversions tools.
Initially, Kindle 1 only supported the ISO 8859-1 (Latin 1) character set for its content; Unicode characters and non-Western characters were not supported. A firmware update in February 2009 added support for additional character sets, including ISO 8859-16.
Kindle 2 added support for Audible Enhanced (AAX) format, but dropped support for Audible versions 2 and 3. Using the experimental web browser, it was possible to download books directly on the Kindle (in MOBI, PRC and TXT formats only). Hyperlinks in a Mobipocket file could be used to download e-books[66] but could not be used to reference books stored in the Kindle's memory. Kindle DX added native support for PDF files.
The original Kindle and Kindle 2 did not allow the user to organize books into folders. There is an option to select whether documents, subscriptions, books, or everything on the device appear on the home page. Another option orders the items on the home page according to title, author, or download date. Books may also be tagged with one or more keywords by inserting the tags into notes added to the book. Users can then search for books by tag. Kindle software version 2.5 (released July 2010) allowed for the organization of books into "Collections" which is roughly correspondent to folders except for the fact that one book may be added to multiple collections.
User-created annotations
Users can bookmark, highlight and look up content. Pages can be dog-eared for reference and notes can be added to relevant content. While a book is open on the display, menu options allow users to search for synonyms and definitions from the built-in dictionary. The device also remembers the last page read for each book. Pages can be saved as a "clipping", or a text file containing the text of the currently displayed page. All clippings are appended to a single file, which can be downloaded over a USB cable.
[edit] Kindle Development Kit (KDK)
On January 21, 2010, Amazon announced the forthcoming release of their Kindle Development Kit. Their aim is to allow developers to build 'active content' for the Kindle, and a beta version was announced with a February 2010 release date. A number of companies have already experimented with delivering active content through the Kindle's bundled browser,and the KDK promises 'sample code, documentation and the Kindle Simulator' together with a new revenue sharing model for developers.
The KDK is based on the Java Programming Language, specifically, the JSR 1.1.2 Personal Basis flavor of packaged Java APIs.
In a December 5, 2009 interview with The New York Times, CEO Jeff Bezos revealed that Amazon.com keeps 65% of the revenue from all ebook sales for the Kindle.The remaining 35% is split between the book author and publisher. After numerous commentators observed that Apple's popular App Store offers 70% of royalties to the publisher, Amazon began a program that offers 70% royalties to Kindle publishers who agree to certain conditions.
Other criticisms involve the business model behind Amazon's implementation and distribution of e-books.Amazon introduced a software application allowing Kindle books to be read on an iPhone or iPod Touch.Amazon soon followed with an application called "Kindle for PCs" that can be run on a Windows PC. Due to the book publisher's DRM policies, Amazon claims that there is no right of first sale with e-books. Amazon states they are licensed, not purchased; so unlike paper books, buyers do not actually own their e-books according to Amazon. This has however never been tested in the courts and the outcome of any action by Amazon is by no means certain. The law is in a state of flux in jurisdictions around the world.
Remote content removal
On July 17, 2009, Amazon.com withdrew certain Kindle titles, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, from sale, refunded the cost to those who had purchased them, and remotely deleted these titles from purchasers' devices after discovering that the publisher lacked rights to publish the titles in question. Notes and annotations for the books made by users on their devices were left in a separate file, but "rendered useless" without the content they were directly linked to. The move prompted outcry and comparisons to Nineteen Eighty-Four itself. In the novel, books, magazines and newspapers in public archives that contradict the ruling party are either edited long after being published or destroyed outright; the removed materials go "down the Memory Hole", nickname for an incinerator chute. Customers and commentators noted the resemblance to the censorship in the novel, and described Amazon's action in Orwellian terms. Some critics also argued that the deletion violated the Kindle's Terms of Service, which states in part:
Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener stated that the company is "… changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers' devices in these circumstances."[84] On July 23, 2009, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos posted an apology about the company's handling of the matter on Amazon's official Kindle forum. Bezos said the action was "stupid", and that the executives at Amazon "deserve the criticism received."
On July 30, 2009, Justin Gawronski, a Michigan high-school senior, and Antoine Bruguier, a California engineer, filed suit against Amazon in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Gawronski argued that Amazon had violated their terms of service by remotely deleting the copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four he had purchased, in the process preventing him from accessing annotations he had written. Bruguier also had his copy deleted without his consent, and found Amazon "deceit" in an email exchange. The complaint, which requested class-action status, asked for both monetary and injunctive relief.The case was settled on September 25, 2009, with Amazon agreeing to pay $150,000 divided between the two plaintiffs, on the understanding that the law firm representing them, Kamber Edelson LLC, "...will donate its portion of that fee to a charitable organization...". The settlement also saw Amazon guaranteeing wider rights to Kindle owners over their eBooks:
For copies of Works purchased pursuant to TOS granting "the non-exclusive right to keep a permanent copy" of each purchased Work and to "view, use and display [such Works] an unlimited number of times, solely on the [Devices]. . . and solely for [the purchasers'] personal, non-commercial use", Amazon will not remotely delete or modify such Works from Devices purchased and being used in the United States unless (a) the user consents to such deletion or modification; (b) the user requests a refund for the Work or otherwise fails to pay for the Work (e.g., if a credit or debit card issuer declines to remit payment); (c) a judicial or regulatory order requires such deletion or modification; or (d) deletion or modification is reasonably necessary to protect the consumer or the operation of a Device or network through which the Device communicates (e.g., to remove harmful code embedded within a copy of a Work downloaded to a Device).
On September 4, 2009, Amazon offered affected users a restoration of the deleted ebooks, an Amazon gift certificate, or a check for the amount of $30.
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