Wireless

Amazon announced some pretty exciting (but not surprising) new devices for us. Firstly they introduced the new Kindle Touch e-readers that feature 6" Pearl E Ink displays and an infra-red touch sensor. The Kindle Touch will launch on November 21st, but you can order it today. The Wi-Fi version costs $99 with screensaver ads and $139 without ads. The 3G version costs $149 (ads) or $189 (ads-free).

The second e-reader is the non-touch Kindle 2011 - which is a streamlined version of the older Kindle 3 - with only 5 physical buttons (beside the next/prev ones, anyway). The Wi-Fi Kindle 2011 is shipping now: $79 for the ad-supported version and $109 for the non-ads variant.

Nicholas Chen from the University of Maryland (with help from Microsoft Research) developed a new e-reader (with an E Ink display) that can connect wirelessly with other similar devices to send links between devices, etc. The nice bit is that these units can clip magnetically together - which can create a dual-display e-reader. Nice:

There are reports that Amazon's 3G Kindle is selling fast on the "gray" market - because the 3D internet bypasses the government great-firewall (which restricts access to sites such as facebook or twitter). Amazon is not selling the Kindle officially in China, so this have been overlooked by the Chinese authorities.

This is a strange report, as we'd assume the firewall is stopping all mobile traffic...

The NPD group has released a new report (e-Reader Owners: Attitudes and Usage) on e-readers. It seems that 93% of e-reader owners are"very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with their device. According to the report, 60 percent of owners said wireless access was their favorite feature on their e-Reader; touch was mentioned by 23 percent of owners.

About 30% say they use at least one another device for reading e-books, such as a PC or a smartphone.

Yesterday Apple finally unveiled the new iPad tablet. This is basically an oversized iPhone (it is running the same OS). It doesn't have an OLED display, nor an E Ink - it's an IPS LCD (which has a better image quality and viewing angle than normal LCDs, but requires more power).

Apple iPad photo

It is also an e-reader - supporting ePub, PDF and Kindle books (via an application). The e-reader app is called iBooks, and there's a bookstore too (iBookstore) that uses the ePub format. Apple also targets this for newspaper with rich content and video support. Apple claims 10 hour battery life with a month of standby.

So will this shake the new e-reader market? It seems hardly likely - it's an expensive, big, heavy device with a very bad battery life, compared to 'dedicated' e-readers. The display might be an issue too - it looks superb, but it's not as easy on the eye as an E Ink. But then again, this is Apple... so you never know. I guess the real question is whether people want a dedicated e-reader that is great for the job, or would rather have a more general-use tablet PC that is also a good e-reader.

Taiwan's Delta Electronics plans to start shipping 13.1" color e-readers at the end of 2Q. They will also ship 8.1" monochrome ones. Both are using e-paper technology from Bridgestone, and are touch-enabled. These will be the first products based on Bridestone's technology, which offers color, efficient e-paper with a fast refresh rate.

Bridgestone E-Paper prototype

Delta are still looking for partners who will actually brand and market the e-readers (which can be equipped with Wi-Fi or 3G modules). They will also market on their own, and are looking for content providers in Taiwan.

Hanvon WISEreader

Hanvon plans to ship the e-readers in 2010, and will market the WISEreaders in the US. They will also seek OEM partners.