Introducing Amazon Kindle 2
Kindle's Revolutionary Wireless Delivery and Massive Selection of Content --
Now in a New Slimmer Design With Longer Battery Life, Faster Page Turns, Over 7X
More Storage, Crisper Images and New Read-to-Me Feature
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 2009-- Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today introduced
Amazon Kindle 2, the new reading device that offers Kindle’s revolutionary wireless
delivery of content in a new slim design with longer battery life, faster page turns,
over seven times more storage, sharper images, and a new read-to-me feature. Kindle
2 is purpose-built for reading with a high-resolution 6-inch electronic paper display
that looks and reads like real paper, which lets users read for hours without the
eyestrain caused by reading on a backlit display. More than 230,000 books are now
available in the Kindle Store, including 103 of 110 current New York Times Best
Sellers and New Releases, which are typically $9.99. Top U.S. and international
magazines and newspapers plus more than 1,200 different blogs are also available.
Kindle 2 is available for pre-order starting today for $359 at http://amazon.com/kindle2
and will ship February 24.
“Kindle 2 is everything customers tell us they love about the original Kindle, only
thinner, faster, crisper, with longer battery life, and capable of holding hundreds
more books. If you want, Kindle 2 will even read to you — something new we added
that a book could never do,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “While
we’re excited about Kindle 2, we know that great hardware is useless without vast
selection. That’s why the Kindle Store offers customers over 230,000 books.”
New Slim and Sleek Design
The new Kindle 2 features a completely new design. At just over a third of an inch
thin (0.36 inches) and weighing just over 10 ounces, Kindle 2 is pencil thin and
lighter than a typical paperback. New buttons make it easy to turn the page from
any holding position. The new 5-way controller on Kindle 2 allows for more precise
note-taking and highlighting both up and down and side to side in lines of text.
The new controller also makes it easy to quickly jump between articles and sections
of newspapers. Kindle 2 comes with a redesigned power charger that is more portable
than the previous Kindle charger. The official Amazon.com cover for Kindle 2, which
is sold separately, has an integrated attachment hinge to ensure a secure fit and
features a leather cover for style and durability. Patagonia, Cole Haan and Belkin
also designed covers for Kindle 2 that are available in the Kindle Store.
New Crisper, Faster Display
Kindle 2’s 6-inch, 600 x 800 electronic paper display provides 16 shades of gray
versus 4 shades available in the original Kindle, resulting in crisp text, and sharper
images and photos. Kindle reads like printed words on paper because the screen works
using real ink and doesn’t use a backlight, eliminating the eyestrain and glare
associated with other electronic displays. With the latest electronic paper display,
pages turn an average of 20 percent faster than the original Kindle for an even
smoother reading experience.
New 2 GB Memory Holds Over 1,500 Books
With 2 GB of memory, Kindle 2 can hold more than 1,500 books, compared with 200
with the original Kindle. And because Amazon automatically backs up a copy of every
Kindle book purchased, customers can wirelessly re-download titles in their library
at any time.
25% Longer Battery Life
Kindle 2 customers can read for four to five days on one charge with wireless on
and for over two weeks with wireless turned off.
New Instant Dictionary Lookup
Kindle 2 comes with the New Oxford American Dictionary and its 250,000 word definitions
built-in, and with Kindle 2 definitions appear instantly at the bottom of the page.
New Experimental Read-To-Me Feature
Kindle 2 offers the experimental read-to-me feature “Text-to-Speech” that converts
words on a page to spoken word so customers have the option to read or listen. Customers
can switch back and forth between reading and listening, and their spot is automatically
saved. Pages turn automatically while the content is being read so customers can
listen hands-free. Customers can choose to be read to by male or female voices and
can choose the speed to suit their listening preference. Using the read-to-me feature,
anything you can read on Kindle, including books, newspapers, magazines, blogs,
and personal documents, Kindle 2 can read to you.
Still Wireless, Still No PC, Still No Hunting for Wi-Fi Hot Spots
Kindle 2 uses the same wireless delivery system as the original Kindle — Amazon
Whispernet. Customers can wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download or receive
new content in less than 60 seconds, and read from their library — all without a
PC, Wi-Fi hot spot, or syncing. Whispernet utilizes Amazon’s optimized technology
plus Sprint’s national 3G data network and is expanded to cover all 50 U.S. states.
Amazon still pays for the wireless connectivity on Kindle 2 so books can be downloaded
in less than 60 seconds — with no monthly wireless bills, data plans, or service
commitments.
Automatically Syncs With Original Kindle, Kindle 2, and future devices
Amazon’s new “Whispersync” technology automatically syncs Kindle 2 and the original
Kindle, which makes transitioning to the new Kindle 2 or using both devices easy
for customers. Kindle 2 will also sync with a range of mobile devices in the future.
Earth’s Biggest E-book Store Keeps Expanding, Plus New Stephen King Exclusive
The Kindle Store currently offers more than 230,000 books — up from 90,000 when
Kindle launched. Books from numerous popular authors have been added since the original
Kindle launched, including John Steinbeck, C.S. Lewis, Beverly Cleary, Martha Stewart,
Terry Goodkind, and Spencer Johnson.
Author Stephen King announced today that he is releasing a novella, “Ur,” which
will only be available on Kindle. At the center of Ur is lovelorn college English
instructor Wesley Smith, who can't seem to get his ex-girlfriend's parting shot
out of his head: "Why can't you just read off the computer like the rest of us?"
Egged on by her question and piqued by a student's suggestion, Wesley places an
order for a Kindle. Smith’s Kindle arrives in a box stamped with the smile logo
and unlocks a literary world that even the most avid of book lovers could never
imagine. But once the door is open, there are those things that one hopes we'll
never read or live through. Ur is available for pre-order beginning today and will
be released later this month. For Kindle customers who pre-order, King’s new novella
will download automatically when it becomes available.
The Kindle Store now includes many additional magazines and newspapers, such as
The New Yorker, which is available for the first time on Kindle starting today.
Magazines and newspaper subscriptions are auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle overnight
so that the latest edition is waiting for customers when they wake up. Monthly Kindle
newspaper subscriptions are $5.99 to $14.99 per month, and Kindle magazines are
$1.25 to $3.49 per month.
Over 1,200 blogs are available on Kindle today — up from 250 when Kindle launched.
New blogs added to the Kindle Store recently include the Wired blogs, VF Daily and
James Wolcott’s Blog from Vanity Fair. Blogs are updated and downloaded wirelessly
throughout the day so Kindle customers can read blogs whenever and wherever they
want. Wireless delivery of blogs costs as little as $0.99 each per month and includes
a free two-week trial.
Same Popular Kindle Features
Kindle 2 includes all the features Kindle customers enjoy every day, including:
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on
the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com,
Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find
and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its
customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions
of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as books, movies, music
& games, digital downloads, electronics & computers, home & garden, toys, kids &
baby, grocery, apparel, shoes & jewelry, health & beauty, sports & outdoors, and
tools, auto & industrial.
Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud
infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which
developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Examples of the services
offered by Amazon Web Services are Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon
Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon SimpleDB, Amazon Simple Queue Service
(Amazon SQS), Amazon Flexible Payments Service (Amazon FPS), and Amazon Mechanical
Turk.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk,
www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, and the Joyo Amazon
websites at www.joyo.cn and www.amazon.cn.
As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com,
Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section
27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations.
These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among
others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services
and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion,
outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality,
commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange
rates, system interruption, indebtedness, inventory, government regulation and taxation,
payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect
Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and
subsequent filings.
Amazon Kindle is sold through Amazon Digital Services, Inc. The Text-to-Speech feature
in Kindle 2 utilizes Realspeak™ Solo software from Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN).
Source: Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon Media Hotline, 206-266-7180