I’m not saying I know for a fact that Kindle 2 is coming in November (surely such a statement would require some sort of inside knowledge that could only come from a trusted friend, or some random guy you met at a party), but at any rate: I’m far less interested in Kindle as a device than Kindle as a platform. I hope Bezos is thinking about that.
The current conventional wisdom seems to be that only an end-to-end platform can make any kind of success, and iPod+iTunes is invariably pointed to as evidence. That particular system is only the result of the record industry’s misguided demands; Jobs said he’d end it in a heartbeat. Don’t fall for it, Amazon: deliver unto us a Kindle app for the iPhone.
Every time I think about how awesome it would be to trade in some of my pressed wood pulp on digital copies, I remember that nobody’s e-book plans include a trade-in system. So I probably will be carting around (/me consults Delicious Library) 389+ of these damned things for the rest of my life regardless.
Speaking of inside information, one analyst sounds convinced that Kindle is ready to take on textbooks. Bully for them.
