Kindle Wireless

The Kindle Wireless is a product of the online retailer Amazon and the product is an e-book reader. More precisely this device is a software, hardware and network platform which has been developed for the rendering and displaying of e-books and other digital media.

There have been numerous Kindle’s within the product range and the newest one was released on August 27th 2010. This Kindle offers a larger screen and is more suitable for displaying newspaper and textbook content. Amazon has introduced the Kindle software for use on various devices and platforms, including Microsoft, Windows, iOS, BlackBerry, MAC OS X, Android and soon Windows Phone 7.

The Kindle range hardware device offers an E Ink brand electronic paper display which is capable of displaying in 16 shades of gray. This allow for a long battery life and also easy readability. Content is downloaded on to the Kindle through the internet and downloaded wirelessly, using either standard Wifi or Amazon’s 3G Whispersync network. Whispernet is accessible without any monthly fee or wireless subscription.

Although fees can be incurred for the delivery of periodicals and other content when roaming internationally beyond the customer's home country. Through a service called "Whispersync", customers can synchronize reading progress, bookmarks and other information across Kindle hardware devices and other mobile devices.

Amazon released the Kindle for PC application free of charge, allowing users to read Kindle books on a Windows PC.Amazon later released a version for the Macintosh. Versions for mobile devices running on operating systems from Research in Motion, Apple, Android and Google are also available free of charge. None of these alternate versions can currently read newspapers, magazines, or blogs, the way they are readable on the Kindle device itself. Amazon has announced that periodical support will soon be added to the Kindle apps for other platforms.

Specific Kindle sales numbers are not released by the company, but Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, stated in a shareholders' meeting that "millions of people now own Kindles. According to anonymous inside sources, over three million Kindles have been sold as of December 2009, while external estimates as of Q4-2009 place the number at about 1.5 million. The popularity of the Kindle throughout the world has increased at rapid pace, although a debate has emerged as to whether the Apple iPad is direct competition for the Kindle.

In the view of some people the iPad is a direct competitor although in the view of some it is not. The price difference is around £300 and the Kindle is targeting the book market rather the iPad which appears to have a much broader target audience. The Kindle has been very popular with students who are able to carry all of their books in just one device. Whilst it has been a success, there are still only a selected amount of books available for the Kindle and therefore this may be constraining the sales.