Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos says that a Kindle e-reader with a color screen won’t show up any time soon:
The Amazon CEO also said a color version of the Kindle was not imminent.
“I know it’s multiple years. I don’t know how many years but it’s years,” he said.
“I’ve seen the color displays in the laboratory and I can assure you they’re not ready for prime time,” Bezos said.
Bezos’s stance sounds like it’s based on the assumption that the Kindle will continue to use a power-miserly E-Ink screen, or at least that Amazon is unwilling to consider the possibility of an LCD Kindle with a battery life measured in hours, not days. I persist in the stubborn notion that we live in a color world, and that the Kindle might have trouble competing with a cool, multipurpose tablet device in a similar form factor from, oh, say, Apple–even if the tablet had a traditional LCD display with traditional uninspiring battery life. I’m also intrigued by alternative display technologies such as that offered by Pixel Qi, which may bridge the gap between the benefits of E-Ink and LCD.
Maybe Bezos is being less than entirely forthcoming–hey, if Amazon is working on color right now, it’s not going to tell us–but if I were him, I’d be formulating plans to have some sort of color Kindle out in months, not years…
Share/E-Mail | Read more about:
May 29th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Amazon doesn’t have to sell Kindles forever–they have to sell eBooks (OK, e-material) long term. Meanwhile, the Kindle is an engine which is deeply involved in creating the space.
May 30th, 2009 at 6:09 am
If they’re going to ‘replace’ newspapers and magazines, they need color. If they’re going to be an ‘upgrade’ over a traditional book, they need lighting.
May 30th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I remember typewriter ribbons that came with two whole colors– black and red. It seemed pretty innovative at the time. Of course, people didn’t own full-color multipurpose devices, like computers– or iPhones– back then….
June 1st, 2009 at 10:32 am
Classics2Go (classics2goapp.com), a top 10 iPhone book app, has 40 classics for only $0.99. These books are beautifully formatted and have attractive cover art. We now have a new bookshelf feature that allows you to organize your collection by title or author. You can also add titles to the “My Books” bookshelf to track books currently being read. This app is a must for any iPhone user! For more information, visit http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=306469226&mt=8