The rumor goes that Amazon will launch two new Kindle models, with the first coming as early as October 2008.

The first is an updated version of the current Kindle featuring a 6-inch display but with a smaller form factor, and an improved interface. The second model, expected to be available early next year will be considerable bigger and is shaped like an 8 1/2 x 11-inch piece or paper. Probably featuring a 9.7-inch display.

If you think about it, a redesign of the Kindle makes a lot of sense. I am sure you all remember the first pictures of the Kindle which leaked from the FCC website in late 2006. Following this leak and later on after the release, there was a lot of negative feedback on the design of the Kindle. Robert Scoble even said on his blog: “Whoever designed this should be fired and the team should start over.” I guess they did Robert.

But the interesting part of the rumor is that they are working on a larger e-reader with probably a 9.7-inch display. I guess that with this larger model they want to expand their current business model which is focused primarily on e-books and add newspapers and magazines, for which a larger reader would make sense. It certainly sounds interesting. What do you think about a bigger reader? and what would you use it for?

Source: crunchgear.com

Steve Jobs observations on the Amazon Kindle book reader, and reading in general has caused some interesting debate on the whole matter.

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.” - NYT

I think the statement is not completely incorrect but I tend to agree with Charles Arthur from The Guardian.

“It would be foolish to predict how electronic reading is going to pan out, because there are two unstoppable trends going on which have been continuing for at least 20 years and show no signs of letting up: people prefer to read bite-sized pieces of information, and people are reading more distinct pieces. Whether we’re reading more in terms of the volume of words compared to 20 years ago is hard to tell, but I’d guess so.” - The Guardian

This trend is not limited to reading alone but part of a Snack Culture which embodies the phenomenon of products, services and experience becoming more temporary and transient; products that are being deconstructed in easier to digest, easier to afford bits, making it possible to collect even more experiences as often as possible, in an even shorter time frame. The signs are everywhere, from ubiquitous commerce to fragmented media to fast fashion to temporary ownership to Netflix-style all-you-can-eat models.

It is a fact that people read less books in the traditional way but the same goes for other types of content. Let’s have a look at the music industry. The sales of the traditional music CD are going down year after year, but I wouldn’t conclude that people don’t listen to music anymore. I just believe that the consumptions patterns are changing and digital content fits better with these consumptions patterns.

A good example is the iTunes WiFi Music store. Say you’re in line at Starbucks. You hear this amazing song wafting from the speakers. You gotta have it. Now. Tap the iTunes button on your iPhone or iPod touch, tap the Starbucks button, and preview, buy, and download whatever you like, right then and there. Basically the idea behind the Kindle is the same - with a tap of a button you connect to amazon.com and can access, preview and buy ten thousands of books.

So I believe Mr. Job has it wrong, when he says that people don’t read anymore, they just read different things like RSS feeds, websites, forums, blogs and of course e-books in different ways using e-readers like the Kindle or the iLiad or other devices like a laptop or a mobile phone, dare i say iPhone?

It has been a bit quiet on the i-to-i blog recently but this will certainly change considering all the interesting developments and activities that you can expect to see from us in 2008.

For those who might have missed it, on the Teleread blog you can find a short Q&A, where I address some of the questions from David Rothman in regard to the iLiad and future developments. Make sure to check it out here.

A few weeks ago we had a visit from the Dutch television for the program ‘In de ban van het ding‘. This weekend the third episode covered the iLiad as well as the Kindle.

Last week Amazon launched its long anticipated e-reader: the Kindle and unless you live in a cave it was kind of hard to miss.

Here at iRex, we would like to congratulate the Amazon Kindle team with the launch of their reader. Seeing such a big name as Amazon making a move into the electronic reading business is very re-assuring for a company like iRex Technologies, who stood at the cradle of this display technology. It is certainly a sign that the electronic paper technology is here to stay.

With the launch, Amazon created a significant hype and wave of interest in the media, and at this stage the first priority and concern for e-reader manufacturers is to develop the market rather than to compete for market share and in that perspective the entry of another big name like Amazon is certainly stimulating the market growth and will benefit all the current active players on the market.

More important, maybe, is that the launch of the Kindle is also a good thing for the consumers, who see their options grow with the introduction of another e-reader. And the Kindle certainly offers some nice new features like the EVDO connectivity that gives you a convenient way to connect directly to the Amazon store. Which provides a wide variety and large volume of content ranging from e-books and newspapers to magazines.

All this content is available in a special Kindle format, based on the Mobipocket format, but unfortunately is not compatible with other devices that support Mobipocket. In addition Amazon also offers access to over 300 blogs and the possibility to send your own documents to the Kindle, but both at a fee. To subscribe to the blog you’ll pay $1.99 and to have your documents converted and send to the Kindle will cost 10 cents.

Personally, I am bit puzzled by this and the choice of format and I wonder if the world really needs another. The Amazon owned Mobipocket format is already widely available and supported across many platforms including other e-readers like the Cybook and the iLiad. By supporting only a single format unique to Kindle, they have created another closed system.

They certainly didn’t needed to ask for a fee for subscribing to a blog feed or converting your own documents with the Mobipocket format. Over 300k RSS feeds from major blogs and other news sources are available from Mobipocket for free and with the Mobipocket Creator, you can easily convert your own documents into a Mobipocket document.

Correction: It does not need to cost money to convert documents for the Kindle. This can be done by yourself and you can place them on the Kindle using the USB cable. However if want to have documents converted and send to a Kindle, it will still costs 10 cents.

All things considered, the Kindle is a very attractive e-reader, although it is open for discussion if this includes the appearances of the device, but the features and the amount of available content and the ease of acquiring this content makes this reader certainly an attractive option.

Please do note that although I try to provide objective and accurate information, I am still a human being who is entitled to his own opinion and, as such, the above is my own opinion that I am sharing with you: please feel free to share yours as well because that’s what i-to-i is all about :-).