Kindle Strikes Back with "Kindle for PC"?

Amazon's got a big target on its back. Sony, Barnes and Nobles, etc. want a piece of the eBook Reader pie and  they're doing all they can to get it. So far, we haven't heard anything from Amazon, until today. Announcing the Kindle for PC! It is a Windows only (sorry Mac and Linux users) free program that allows you to read Kindle books on your PC.

"Kindle for PC is the perfect companion application for folks who own a Kindle or Kindle DX," said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "Kindle for PC is also a great way for people around the world to read the most popular books of today even if they don’t yet have a Kindle."

With Kindle for PC, readers can take advantage of the following features:

• Purchase, download, and read hundreds of thousands of books available in the Kindle Store
• Access their entire library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon’s servers for free
• Choose from over 10 different font sizes and adjust words per line
• Add and automatically synchronize bookmarks and last page read
• View notes and highlights marked on Kindle and Kindle DX
• Zoom in and out of text with a pinch of the fingers (Windows 7 users only)
• Turn pages with a finger swipe (available in a future release for Windows 7 users)

I'm still thinking how this would fight off the eBook Reader competitors as all it does is basically target those people without Kindle. I'm guessing that Amazon's focusing right now on eBook rather than Kindle 2 sales. Are they going to just let their competitors walk all over them?

Good luck to Amazon.

Price and availability to be announced soon.

Press Release

The iRiver Story: A New e-Reader

From the looks of it, a few months ago e-books was Amazon land, the Kindle was the only king of e-readers, and most customers were stuck with reading their favorite e-books on a few devices that Amazon allowed. Then came the challenge from Sony: three e-readers to cater to your wallet and wants, great discounts on bestselling e-books, and a library where you can rent e-books for free for at least 21 days. Kindle users will most likely take a look at the tag price disparity between the Kindle and Sony's e-readers and the prices of e-books available at the Sony store--how can you beat free anyway?

It looks like this move inspired a lot of other companies to try their luck in the e-reader business. iRiver, a company known for the its DVD and mp3 players in the past, will be rolling out its own e-book reader called The iRiver Story.

You won't find wireless downloading like Amazon and Sony offer in their devices, but the Story does support SDHC cards and a slew of useful formats without conversion: PDF, E-Pub, txt, e-comics and Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Word and Excel docs).

From the looks of it, it's a Kindle clone. The price is not as competitive as the Sony's, but it can read more than a book though. The first ones to get will be Korea this month, while iRiver's still negotiating a deal with both the Europe and US publishers. We hope that they can cut the price lower than $300 to ensure some competitiveness in this market.

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Sony ups the ante vs. Amazon's Kindle

Image via Wikipedia

If you're into e-books then most likely you love them and hate them at the same time. Not the books themselves mind you, but they way that it's been restricted for you to read them in certain mediums. Amazon is one of the well-known proponents of this as their e-books can only be read through their uber expensive Kindle or the iPhone. It's good news then that Sony seems to be thinking in the opposite way.

We reported on Sony's e-readers a few days ago, the Pocket and the Touch, and we were rather surprised at what the company will sacrifice to ensure they get one over Amazon in this market. First, they decided to make two e-readers--both priced way lower than the Kindle. Second, they slashed the e-book Bestsellers from $11.99 to $9.99. Now, they've totally gone way overboard with the latest news that they will be releasing books on the ePub format!

What's ePub? It's a format that will allow you to read your e-book on a plethora of e-reading devices! Imagine buying a book through Sony and then reading it in the Plastic Logic eReader or the iPhone through Lexcycle Stanza! This is totally the opposite of how Kindle is handling their e-books.

“There is going to be a proliferation of different reading devices, with different features and capabilities and prices for a different set of consumer requirements,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading unit. “If people are going to this e-book shopping mall, they are going to want to shop at all the stores, and not just be required to shop at one store.”

Somehow the gadget book geeks will be taking a second and even third look at Sony's Touch or Pocket as a better and cheaper alternative to Kindle. We know we will!

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