Color e-Paper Kindle a Long Way Out?
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Many Kindle fans have been waiting for Amazon to introduce a color screen Kindle to the market in response to Apple iPad. We hoped it would happen in 2010. According to Jeff Bezos, Amazon is not close to pulling the trigger on that move. Apparently, the company is still struggling to integrate color e-paper technology with its device. Mr. Bezos claims that the prototypes that he has seen are not “ready for primetime.” No words on when it may be.
I am a bit skeptical about this claim. There is no doubt that Amazon is not interested in putting a color screen e-reader for the sake of doing it. The company is not going to have too many shots to get back at Apple. However, Amazon did announce Kindle API a while back. There were even talks about companies developing games for the next generation Kindle. Without a color screen, it’s tough to see what those gaming companies can do.
Jeff Bezos may be a perfectionist, but Amazon does need to come up with a response to the iPad. It is focusing on the software side of things at this point. But if the company has sold “millions” of Kindle units so far, it needs to continue innovating to keep that trend going.
What’s your take: Can Kindle 3 survive without a color screen?
