Posts Tagged ‘amazon kindle’
According to The New Democratic Leadership Council – a Washington think tank formed in 1985 – every one of America’s 56 million K-12 schoolchildren should be supplied with an electronic book reader of some type. In a document entitled “A Kindle In Every Backpack”, written by Thomas Z Freedman, it is suggested that this would cut costs and allow for constant updating of academic textbooks.
Governement spending on traditional printed textbooks currently runs at $109 per student. According to Mr. Freedman’s report the current initial costs for the provision of electronic readers would be circa $200, falling to $80 per student by 2012. Who would pay for this initiative is not defined in the paper – but it seems reasonable to assume that the government would pick up the tab.
According to the report, the benefits of the plan would include the ability to update academic textbooks quickly, the possibility to run interactive educational programs – including tests and quizzes and a reduced weight to be carried by students. Environmental aspects are not considered in the report, but there would surely be an enormous decrease in the volume of paper used by the academic textbook publishers annually.
The Amazon Kindle ebook reader is mentioned several times throughout the report – but the possibility of using other brands is also noted. One possible problem with the current design of Kindle may be the suitability of its screen for rough handling. There is currently a class action suit raised against Amazon regarding cracking face plates and screens. This seems mostly concerned with Kindles which have had covers fitted to them and may not represent any flaw in the device itself. However, it would not seem reasonable to expect school age students to take greater care when using their Kindles than adults who have paid for the device themselves. Therefore, it may be a requirement to produce an “industrialized” version of the reader, rugged enough to withstand the inevitable bumps and scrapes which will surely be collected throughout the academic year.
There does seem to be an ever increasing air of inevitability regarding the move to electronic textbooks. Californian governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, recently announced that California would start providing free electronic textbooks in August of 2009. California’s program does not specifically mention the Kindle but, nevertheless, Amazon executives must have been overjoyed with both the announcement and the timing of the scheme. Amazon already have pilot partnership agreements with a number of universities and academic publishers. It really is beginning to look more like “when” rather than “if” electronic textbooks will become part of the mainstream.
The original Amazon Kindle reader – launched in November of 2007 – didn’t make much of an impact on the academic community. The updated Kindle 2 – which started shipping in February of 2009 – didn’t really change matters very much – not from an educational perspective at any rate.
The relatively high purchase price of the reader may be a bit steep for many students, but that’s probably an issue which could be worked around. The problem is the 6” screen on both the original Kindle and the Kindle 2 – whilst more than adequate for reading normal books – it is too small for academic textbooks, many of which contain illustrations and diagrams.
However, with the launch of the Kindle DX on June 10 2009, things may change – and rapidly. The new DX sports a much larger screen, 9.7” measured across the diagonal. It also has an accelerometer fitted which allows users to change from portrait to landscape automatically when the device is rotated. Amazon is marketing the DX as the ideal solution for readers of newspapers, magazines and academic textbooks.
Amazon has already announced partnerships with a number of colleges and universities, including Princeton, Case Western, Arizona State and the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. These institutions may offer the Kindle reader at a discount to some students and it does seem like a good way for Amazon to enter the emerging market for higher education electronic books.
According to the National Association of College Stores, college book sales for the year 2007-08 amounted to $5.4 billion. It’s an enormous market which would be attractive for Amazon, who would hope to secure a good share of these sales, and also for the educational establishments, who might expect to save significant amounts of money and to have a more efficient method of keeping academic textbooks current.
As an example of the types of savings that could be made, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California, recently confirmed that his state would start providing digital textbooks in the Fall of 2009. For a school district with around 10,000 high school students, a yearly saving of $2 million is forecast. It’s possible that savings may vary for tertiary education, – but they are definitely there for the taking. Money saved in this manner would hopefully be made available for use in other areas.
With potential profits for ebook reader suppliers, and savings for educational bodies, it seems likely that there will be some hot competition in this important market sector in the very near future. At the moment Amazon do seem to be in the driving seat, but Plastic Logic, News Corp. and Hearst are all rumored to be preparing large format ebook readers for launch in 2010. Apple has also confirmed that they will be launching a tablet type notebook, well suited for reading ebooks, in the near future.
In addition to profits for Amazon and its competitors and savings for the educational establishment, it is to be hoped that individual students will benefit as a result of investment of monies that would not otherwise be available. The availability of cheaper, more frequently updated textbooks should also be a plus and, in future, it seems possible that different, more interactive, learning possibilities may be developed .
Amazon marketing executives must have been over the moonafter Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announced his state’s first-in-the nation project which will replace traditional paper textbooks using free online digital textbooks. This is not some pie in the sky future dream, the scheme will kick off in August of 2009. Science and Math texts will be replaced in the first phase, other subjects will follow.
An initial list of standards aligned digital textbooks covering subjects such as geometry, trigonometry, calculus, physics, algebra, chemistry, biology and earth science course will be released in August. The review procedure is already underway and there are a good number of electronic textbooks currently under review. Academic publishers have been invited to submit further textbooks for consideration by the California Learning Resources network. The final date for submission is June 15 to allow for release by August this year.
The second phase of the initiative, presently in development, will make the new digital textbooks available for all grades. Interactive content will be developed and a web site showcasing books available in the state will be the long term goal.
The initiative could potentially save Californian schools millions of dollars. It’s estimated that a school district with around 10,000 high school students could save $2 million dollars by using free downloadable textbooks in just science and math classes. Last year California spent $350 million on textbooks and other printed educational material. Upon the adoption of digital textbooks a significant portion of this money will become available for use in other areas.
Another advantage envisaged is that, because digital textbooks are more easily updated, it will be easier for students to learn about technological advances and current discoveries as they happen. Traditional paper textbooks are updated, on average, every 6 years – which could mean that, at the tail end of the cycle, students could be missing out on six years of information.
It also seems probable that alternative, interactive learning possibilities could be introduced once the scheme is up and running.
Now, it’s probably worth noting that at no point in his announcement did Governor Schwarzenegger make any mention of Amazon’s ebook reader – or any of its competitors for that matter. In fact, the Governor said that it would be possible for schools to save money without the use of computers or laptops as teachers could print out the material and that would still work out considerably cheaper than using traditional textbooks. So why, exactly, is the internet buzzing about this “great news” for Amazon?
Well, the latest addition to the Amazon Kindle ebook reader family, the Kindle DX, launched on June 10 – just five days after Governor Schwarzenegger’s announcement. It is a larger version of Amazon’s recently released Kindle 2 having a 9.7” screen instead of a 6” one. It’s been promoted by Amazon as being the ideal solution for reading newspapers, magazines and – wait for it – academic textbooks.
Amazon have already entered into agreements with at least three academic publishers and some higher education establishments have publicly announced that they make the Kindle available to their students. It does look as if Amazon are currently better placed to capitalise upon the sudden introduction of new digital technology in the academic world than the majority of their competitors.
That’s not to say that they will have things all their own way of course. Sony have partnered with Google to make Google’s huge collection of public domain ebooks available to users of their PRS ebook reader, a clear sign that neither Google or Sony are willing to relinquish the potentially huge and lucrative ebook market to Amazon without a fight. There are plenty of other players in the market – and it will be interesting to see how they react to developments in the market in general and the academic segment in particular.
In the meantime, it does seem as if Governor Schwarzenegger’s innovative plan for California’s educational future is likely to boost sales of Amazon’s reader, Kindle accessories and books from Amazon’s Kindle store. Other states will almost certainly consider similar schemes and the academic sector of the book market could evolve very rapidly indeed. Certainly, the academic textbook sector is only one market segment – but it does seem to be leading the way. It also offers Amazon and its competition an ideal chance to “get ‘em while they’re young” and establish brand recognition and loyalty which could influence buying decisions in later life.
Amazon marketing executives must have been rubbing their hands with glee upon hearing Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announcement of his state’s first-in-the nation initiative to replace traditional paper textbooks with free online digital textbooks. This is not some fanciful vision of the future, the initiative will commence in August of this year. Science and Math texts will be replaced in the first phase, other subjects will follow.
An initial list of standards aligned digital textbooks covering subjects such as geometry, trigonometry, calculus, physics, algebra, chemistry, biology and earth science course will be released in August. The review procedure is already underway and there are a good number of electronic textbooks currently under review. Academic publishing house and content providers have been invited to submit additional material for review by the California Learning Resources network. The deadline for submission is June 15 to allow for review in time for the forthcoming academic year.
The second phase of the initiative, presently in development, will make the new digital textbooks available for all grades. Interactive content will be included and a state wide web site showcasing books available will be the long term goal.
The initiative could potentially save Californian schools millions of dollars. It’s estimated that a school district having around 10,000 high school students benefit to the tune of $2 million dollars by adopting digital textbooks for the science and math subject areas only. Last year California spent $350 million on textbooks and other printed educational material. Upon the adoption of digital textbooks a significant portion of this money will become available for use in other areas.
Another advantage envisaged is that, because digital textbooks are more easily updated, it will be easier for students to learn about technological advances and current discoveries as they happen. Conventional paper textbooks tend to be updated, on average, every six years – which could mean that, at the back end of the cycle, students could be missing six years of information.
It also seems probable that alternative, interactive learning possibilities could be introduced once the scheme is up and running.
Now, it’s probably worth noting that at no point in his announcement did Governor Schwarzenegger make any mention of Amazon’s ebook reader – or any of its competitors for that matter. In fact he made it clear that it would be possible for schools to obtain benefits without computers or laptops as teachers could print out the material and that would still be more economical than conventional text books. So why is the internet buzzing about this “good news” for Amazon?
Well, the latest addition to the Amazon Kindle ebook reader family, the Kindle DX, launched on June 10 – just five days after Governor Schwarzenegger’s announcement. It is a larger version of Amazon’s recently released Kindle 2 having a 9.7” display rather than a 6” one. Amazon have marketed it as being ideal for reading magazines, newspapers and – that’s right – academic textbooks.
Amazon have already entered into agreements with at least three academic publishers and some higher education establishments have publicly announced that they make the Kindle available to their students. At this time it does seem that Amazon are better able to take advantage of the sudden introduction of new digital technology in the academic world than their competition.
That’s not to say that they will have things all their own way of course. Sony have partnered with Google to make Google’s huge collection of public domain ebooks available to users of their PRS ebook reader, a clear sign that neither Google or Sony are willing to relinquish the potentially huge and lucrative ebook market to Amazon without a fight. Other competitors also exist and it will be interesting to see how they respond to developments in the market in general and the academic sector in particular.
In the meantime, it does seem as if Governor Schwarzenegger’s innovative plan for California’s educational future is likely to boost sales of Amazon’s reader, Kindle accessories and books from Amazon’s Kindle store. No doubt other states will consider similar schemes and the academic sector of the book market could hot up very quickly indeed. Of course, the academic textbook sector is only one market segment – but it does appear to be leading the way. Moreover, it presents Amazon and its competitors with an ideal opportunity to “get ‘em while they’re young” and establish the type of brand recognition and loyalty which will almost certainly influence buying decisions in later life.
The first Amazon kindle ebook reader launched in November 2007. It sold out almost instantly – in five and a half hours – and then remained out of stock right up until April 2008. It’s probably fair to say that even Amazon was pleasantly surprised by the instant success of the device.
The updated Amazon kindle 2 went on sale in late February of 2009 and it was widely believed to be a marked improvement on what was an already successful product. Among other improvements it sported an increased battery life, quicker page turns, a text-to-speech facility (it reads books to you) and space for around 1500 books in its internal memory (even if the option to use an external SD card, a feature of the first kindle, was no longer available).
Just three months later, in May 2009, Amazon announced that its kindle DX would be launching in the summer of this year. The DX incorporates most of the key features of the Kindle 2 but has a bigger 9.7″ screen, which incorporates automatic rotation between portrait and landscape mode. For the first time in the kindle range the ability to read native pdf files without the need for conversion is included.
The larger display of the kindle DX makes it perfectly suited for use with newspapers, magazines and student textbooks. Quite a few major newspapers announced that they would offer the Kindle device at a discount to anyone signing up to an annual subscription.
Amazon are playing their cards very close to their chest – but it’s thought that somewhere between $86 to $96 million of kindle reader sales were realised from November 2007 to August 2008. Don’t forget, that’s only for the hardware – sales of electronic books would need to be accounted for separately. Business analysts currently estimate that kindle sales (the device only) will reach $ 1.6 billion by 2012.
Great business for Amazon – and an important move away from just selling other manufacturer’s products to having their own product to bring to the market. More importantly, whilst not exactly locked in, kindle customers will be heavily motivated to provide Amazon with a level of repeat business that most other vendors can only fantasise about.
In the past decade or so, there had been many failed attempts at making our reading become smoother and faster. That’s until online book retailer Amazon came along and again made the difference in enhancing the reading experience, with a reading device called the Kindle electronic book reader. In deft fashion, its extraordinary features for reading are complemented by its novel way of acquiring the very content.
The Amazon Kindle is a user-friendly and portable ebook reader. This device is able to download blogs, books, newspapers, and magazines. It used to be that heavy-duty reading meant turning thick pages of paper but nowadays, electronic reading is very different. It is not only mobile but it can also carry your entire library of books and is connected constantly to your bookshop through wireless network.
The Kindle does not require a personal computer to download its media. And also, syncing is smart and automatic. This electronic book reader comes with internet capability through 3G technology on which the Amazon Whispernet service is rendered. This feature comes with the purchase of the reader so users don’t have to concern themselves with the wireless service plan, contract, or bills thereafter.
The Amazon Whispernet wireless service is a one-of-a-kind delivery system which enables users to obtain any e-book on its library very quickly. This facility is currently not available outside the US but those who have had a taste of the electronic book reader would know that it’s a matter of time that it becomes so. Users from US can download and sample the beginning pages of books for free before deciding whether to purchase the book or not.
In terms of appearance, this portable reader is as impressive as its capabilities. The crisp black-and-white screen could easily be mistaken for some fine-grade printed paper. The high-tech virtual ink is intended to be just like real ink-on-paper in terms of appearance and readability so much so that there is no backlighting at all. This makes it easy to read in bright sunlight and the screen never heats up so you don’t have to limit how long you should be reading on that account.
This portable ebook reader is no doubt could be very convenient for those who are on holiday.This little handheld reader gadget can store your books up to 200. This is an awful lots of books to read while you are idling away in your holiday.With this device being able to store ‘200′ books, it certainly help to save you room in your carry-on bag.
It has got great feature such as ‘flipping’ the pages electronically. I particularly like this feature as it make one feel that the ebook is almost for real.If you happen to like reading with your partner, you can always use the feature Read aloud’ and have the ebook read to you both while you both lie on the bed and cuddle close together.Not quite a bad idea.
The overall look and feel of this ebook reader is great. It has a pleasing wedge shape that feels like a paperback book. The left side of this device is about as thick as a book’s spine while the right side is thinner, like opened pages.
However, I will like such handheld ebook reader to be water proof because I love to read in my bathroom.I do spend quite abit of time in the bathroom and being able to read the handheld ebook will be a great idea. However, for this version of the Kindle2 eBook reader, it will not be a good idea to make it wet.
The other thing I do not quite like is the screen.The screen of the device is great and does not dazzle the eye the way those backlit computers do.The screen is not too big actually with only six inches diagonally. This is fine if you can read fairly small print. But if you set the text size to one of the larger options, you get only to read a couple of paragraphs at any one time.
More about Amazon Kindle Portable eBook Reader
For almost twenty years, the perfect portable ebook reading hardware has been 5 years away. We’re now down to waiting for a cheap enough, lower power enough paper-quality display with long battery life.
Once the ebooks become cheap and affordable, the medium by which we read will also be the medium by which can write and respond. Reading will eventually become a social act eventually. You can see this happening already with the blogs and online likes.
So, I have been assuming that the ebook reader will mimic the form factor of books: display a page, and maybe some kind of rustling sound as the page is turned slowly automatically. But it is taking so long for ebooks to arrive for the market that they may skip book emulation entirely and become general purpose browsers/composers. In which case, they are more effective for blogs than for books.
It is my opinion that a good format is more important than the medium. In the physical world, format (e.g. hardcover, small-print soft-cover, magazine, etc.) provides a bunch of cues on the type and depth of the content. Photos placed at the right spots will certainly attract attention. The formats also reveal a huge deal about age appropriateness. I do not see ebook becoming anymore poplular until they really have a format to them. So perhaps that makes a bunch of different ebook reader niches rather than an e-book monolith.Who knows in the first place.
I feel that for an ebook to be ubiquitous, the content prices must be at an acceptable level. RCA ebook readers have been around for years, but I still do not see people using them on the trains, buses and airplanes. On the other hand, every one of my friend of mine has one or two of those. Why? Well, that is because we all read Russian. And Russian ebooks are cheap to begin with (if not free).
So, yes, I do hope ebooks jump directly to supporting blog-like content, otherwise we might wait another twenty years before the perfect ebook hardware emerges and gain mass adoption.