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Book and Reading News

Samsung also leaping into the Kindle cage fight

From The Korea Herald: Samsung takes on giant Amazon in e-books. And, no, we’re not talking about a battle of GIANT WOMEN. “We seek to become a bigger player than Amazon or Sony in the e-book market,” Lew Jae-young, vice president of Samsung Electronics, is quoted saying at a press conference.

The Samsung device, the SNE-50K, which launches later this month in Korea, has an E-Ink display the same size as Kindle 2, no wireless connectivity and touts the first handwriting recognition technology in e-books, which is not true.

The $270.00 (339,000 Korean Won) device will be available through a Korean bookstore chain, Kyobo, and features only 2,500 titles in its current catalog, with a thousand more expected to be added each month. Interestingly, the article states flatly that e-books will sell for 40 percent less than their paper counterparts, so there is no assumption that an e-book must be priced at a specific amount, such as $9.99, to be attractive to the Korean market.

Local language focus may be a boon for Samsung in Korea, where providing double-byte character support and domestic bestsellers can help establish a beachhead for the device.

Categories
Book and Reading News

Kindle DX sold out in three days—not so much

UPDATE: Reader David Sloves notes that shipping schedules may be the culprit in the shortage of Kindle DX. In fact, the Amazon site now says Kindle DX will be available on June 22 (as of Tuesday, Amazon says June 22; last evening, it said June 17), so we have the answer. No, the Kindle DX didn’t sell out in three days.

Original text:

First manufacturing run of Kindle DX reportedly sold out. CRN reports the first, undisclosed number of Kindle DXes produced for Amazon by Prime View International, has sold out in just three days. The device, which sells for $489, was introduced earlier this year and launched on June 10. No wonder Prime View bought E-Ink Corp. earlier this month, they’re cutting their costs as Kindle sales accelerate.

You know what would be nice as Amazon reorders? Spec in a removable memory slot in both Kindle 2 and Kindle DX.

Keep in mind that Amazon hedges its bets. Kindle1 shortages were the result of short production runs. This time, though, I’ll bet the manufacturer kept the production line intact.