"Kindling"an interest in books

A big news story today..Amazon in Big Push for New Kindle Model.

Setting up an obvious battle with Google and another possible one with Apple in the fast-growing electronic-book business, Amazon.com on Monday introduced the Kindle 2, a new version of its popular e-book reader. The announcement strengthens the bid by Amazon for control of the e-book market and the devices consumers use to read them. Amazon hopes that the Kindle becomes the iPod of the literary world, challenging the printed book. The Kindle 2 has several incremental improvements over its predecessor, which went on sale in 2007. Amazon said the upgraded device has seven times the memory of the original version, turns pages faster and has a sharper display. It also features a new design with round keys and a short, joysticklike controller — a departure from the earlier design, which some buyers had criticized as awkward. The device will ship Feb. 24. The price remains at $359. For $3.99, all Kindle users can buy a short story by Stephen King that will be exclusive to the Kindle for a limited time. “Our vision is every book, ever printed, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds,” said Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive. Perhaps most significant, Amazon said it would start selling e-books that can be read on mobile phones and other devices, although Amazon did not say when it would do so or which devices would be compatible. It also announced a new feature, Whispersync, which would allow readers to begin a book on one Kindle and continue, at the same point in the text, on another Kindle or a mobile phone. Analysts say the move is aimed at establishing Amazon as the dominant e-commerce platform for books, a position similar to the one Apple has assumed in music with its iTunes Store.

Amazon had been phenomenally successful in this economic mess. Let's hope this product is a home run.