Will Amazon Launch The Kindle 4 In 2010?

Last Updated (Wednesday, 31 December 1969 15:59) Written by Andrew King Monday, 30 November 2009 16:19

This has been a really important year for e-book readers, thanks largely to the work of Amazon. The Kindle 2 - an improved and upgraded version of Amazon's original Kindle - was released in February 2009.

This has been a really important year for e-book readers, thanks largely to the work of Amazon. The Kindle 2 - an improved and upgraded version of Amazon's original Kindle - was released in February 2009.

Just a few weeks later, in June, Amazon debuted the large screen Kindle DX. It was specifically aimed at readers of newspapers, magazines and academic textbooks - and it created quite a stir.

The possibilities for use in the academic environment - from interactive textbooks to constantly updated texts, and not overlooking the potential for academic bodies to save a lot of money - attracted plenty of attention. In addition to entering into partnership with various colleges and universities, Amazon received plenty of free publicity from the political scene - such as the New Democratic Leadership Council and Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his capacity as Governor of California.

The reward for Amazon's innovation - admittedly helped by a lot of buzz and free publicity - was that the Kindle, in a very short space of time, became Amazon's best selling product - bar none. Right now, the Kindle enjoys a staggering 60% share of the U.S. e-book market and Amazon have very recently gone global with their Kindle International.

However, Amazon were actually a late entrant to the e-book reader arena. The first e-book reader, the Franklin Ebookman, was launched ten years ago in'99. Sony's PRS reader also beat the original Kindle to market.

Amazon, although not first to market, combined clever marketing with technical innovation and a strong focus on customer needs and achieved the dominant position in the e-book reader market. Features such as the large number of books available for download to the Kindle (currently 360,000 and growing every day) and wireless connectivity were just as critical to the Kindle's success as technical functionality.

Having developed the market, Amazon now finds itself with plenty of competition looming. Microsoft, Sony, Barnes and Noble, Samsung, Apple, Palstic Logic - the list seems endless - all have their own readers due for launch or in the final throes of the develoment cycle.

Amazon's current unique selling point - wireless connectivity - will soon become standard and users of Barnes and Noble's new Nook reader will be able to choose from over 1,000,000 titles on Barnes and Noble's website. The new Daily Edition reader from Sony will let users borrow books from participating lending libraries. In 2010, there will probably be some convergence on a standard e-book format which will allow users to lend e-books to friends and family or transfer them over to other e-book readers should they so wish.

Right now, a lot of industry watchers are eyeing the line up of new readers and trying to guess which one is the Kindle Killer. All the same, Amazon has shown plenty of business acumen to date, so don't expect them to give up their top slot without a fight. It took them less than a year and a half after the launch of the original Kindle to release the much improved Kindle 2. The DX reader was released no more than a few months later. Amazon almost certainly has big plans for the further development of their e-book readers. Is it possible that the real Kindle killer will actually be the Kindle 4 and that could we see this in 2010?