Amazon to launch E-book Reader Kindle

[mandy]

Amazon, the e-tail giant with thick roots in the sale of physical books, will reportedly make a push into the hardware space with the release of Kindle, a new e-book reader. Amazon has apparently secured a deal with Sprint to give Kindle the ability to access the retailer's site anywhere via the EVDO network. E-books are just part of Amazon's clear push into digital media sales...

The Kindle, the first hardware device created by the online seller, will include WiFi functionality to allow users to connect directly with Amazon's e-book store, from which they can purchase new books...

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/Amazon-A...60370.html

Newsweek has a related 7-page article on Amazon and e-books:

The Future of Reading

Amazon's Jeff Bezos already built a better bookstore. Now he believes he can improve upon one of humankind's most divine creations: the book itself...

This week Bezos is releasing the Amazon Kindle, an electronic device that he hopes will leapfrog over previous attempts at e-readers and become the turning point in a transformation toward Book 2.0. That's shorthand for a revolution (already in progress) that will change the way readers read, writers write and publishers publish. The Kindle represents a milestone in a time of transition, when a challenged publishing industry is competing with television, Guitar Hero and time burned on the BlackBerry; literary critics are bemoaning a possible demise of print culture, and Norman Mailer's recent death underlined the dearth of novelists who cast giant shadows. On the other hand, there are vibrant pockets of book lovers on the Internet who are waiting for a chance to refurbish the dusty halls of literacy...

full article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/70983