Santa's Kindle shoppers hedge on the $A

Beverley Head
Monday, 26 October 2009 08:47

Your IT - Home IT

The Kindle also features an experimental Read to Me facility which converts text to speech. Books can be downloaded wirelessly in less than 60 seconds according to Porco, and if a wireless connection cannot be achieved, books can be downloaded via an internet connected PC and USB.
Unlike their US peers who receive a power-cord, Australian Kindle users will receive a USB cord and have to charge up their machines using that.

Amazon’s global communications partner is AT&T which manages the wireless network (Whispernet) which allows Kindle users to wirelessly connect to Amazon’s Kindle shop to download or access their ebooks or ebook annotations and notes which are stored in the Amazon cloud. Porco refused to say which local 3G network was underpinning Amazon’s local offering, although she stressed that local users would not face any wireless contracts or charge to use the device.

Local users will be able to download ebook equivalents of hardcover books for around $US12.90, although Porco said there were 100,000 books on the Kindle list which cost $US5.99 or less. Although there are 85 newspapers and magazines available, there are as yet no Australian titles signed up for the Kindle.

A PC application expected to ship next month will allow Kindle users to sync their devices with their PCs. Porco declined to comment on speculation that Kindle content would shortly be made available on iPhones or iPods saying only; “It is our intention to make Kindle available on multiple platforms.”

She confirmed however that Amazon plans to release a slightly larger version of the device next year, the Kindle DX, which will have a larger screen and possibly be targeted as a device for use with e-textbooks.

Porco was dismissive of the threat posed by the recently released Barnes & Noble Nook which has a similar price point, is based on Android software, and has access to a library of 700,000 titles. “I don’t spend time thinking about competitors. I spend time thinking about the customer,” an approach which she believed had a better competitive outcome.