Matt’s Desk: Editor’s Blog

I’ve enjoyed reading e-books since my first iPAQ h3635 Pocket PC, so I was very interested in today’s announcement of the Amazon Kindle, a dedicated e-book reader designed to make the digital reading experience cleaner, simpler and more user-friendly.  In thumbnail, the Kindle is a tablet-style device with a 6″ E-Ink display, wireless data access for downloading and purchasing content, and a wide array of content support.  With the Kindle you can purchase and download e-books, subscribe to newspapers and blogs, search Wikipedia.org for up-to-date encyclopedic knowledge, listen to MP3 audio files and Audible audiobooks, view photos (in black and white), and read Word and PDF files.

To me, the most notable feature of the Kindle is its use of Amazon Whispernet, an EV-DO data service provided by Sprint Wireless.  But, you don’t have to sign up for a data plan or get get a monthly wireless bill – the connectivity charges are built into the price of books, newspaper subscriptions and blog access (there’s a small fee for wirelessly downloading blog content).    Amazon’s position as the world’s largest bookseller also positions the company to make e-books more relevant; at the time of the announcement this morning, Amazon had 100 of the current New York Times bestsellers digitized and ready for download.  The power of Amazon, combined with the ability to make purchases or download new content anywhere the Sprint network is available, might just make the Kindle the first device to truly bring the e-book to the masses.

The Kindle is available for purchase from Amazon.com.