Amazon Kindle - Page 4

A new poll of around 3000 consumers by ChangeWave Research finds that 40% of people planning to buy an e-reader in the next 90 dsays expect to buy an Apple iPad. 28% say they expect to get a Kindle. 27% of current e-reader owners say that they would have bought an iPad instead of what they got.

Via Investors.com

Freescale announced today a new processor called i.MX508 targeted for e-readers. The processor is based on an ARM A8 core and includes an E Ink controller. Freescale says that the chip is fast (800Mhz), efficient and cheap (less than $10 in large volumes). In fact they say that this chip can enable $150 e-readers.

The new chip is faster than Freescale's previous e-reader chips (used in the Amazon Kindle and Sony's Readers, for example) which can result in faster page refresh and can enable new features. As the chip includes an E Ink controller, USB and NAND memory it can help reduce the price of the final product.

Interestingly, the chip includes a special e-reader power mode, in which it can turn-off when users are reading a page to save power, and only operate at full-speed when users want to turn a page or perform an operation. 

The i.MX508 is expected to sample in 3Q 2010, and freescale (together with E Ink) are offering a dev-platform (called SABRE) which costs $1995 and is available now.

If you have an Amazon Kindle e-reader, then you'd be happy to know that you can read E-Reader-Info directly on your Kindle. The service costs just $0.99 a month.

Amazon's Kindle is a wireless e-book reader that has a free 3G connection in the US. It's got a 6" E Ink display, 2Gb of memory, and it's available now for 259$. The Kindle DX is bigger (with a 9.7" display) and costs 489$.

Amazon today released a Kindle application for Blackberry phones. It's a free download, available in the US only. 

Via Engdaget

You can now sign-up for Amazon's Kindle Development kit. It's still in limited beta. The dev-kit allows you to write active-content applications for the Kindle.

Via Engadget

Amazon has bought a startup named Touchco, who is working on new touchscreen technology. Their touch-overlay screen is completely transparent and can detect an unlimited number of simultaneous touch points.  It is also cheap - less than $10 per square foot. So, will the next-gen Kindle will have a touch display?

Via Engadget

Amazon has released some more information on the new applications for the Kindle (called Active-Content). Applications that are less than 1Mb in download, and require less than 100KB per month in traffic can be free. Applications that have a 1Mb to 10Mb download will require a one-time purchase fee (to offset the bandwidth usage). If the applications needs over 100Kb a month in traffic, you'll have to buy a subscription.

Amazon will take 30% of the revenue, with the rest going to the publisher. Via Engadget.