Kindle Competes Successfully with iPad

admin | August 31, 2010

The Apple iPad has sold millions of units in its first few months. But the Amazon Kindle reader was also doing well. It has big advantages for people who mainly want a reader.

Sales of the Kindle went up after the iPad came out. Amazon reduced the price of their standard model to $189, which may be one reason. They predict sales of 3.5 million Kindles this year.

Amazon says the iPad, at one and a half pounds, isn’t the best device for sustained reading. It weighs much more than the Kindle, which can be held in one hand like a paperback.

Kindle’s “electronic paper” screen works better in sunlight, and it can run for weeks on a single battery charge if the wireless is switched off.

New Kindle Makes its Debut
The new third-generation Kindle became available in September. It is even lighter and faster than the previous model. It has a sharper type image, longer battery life and twice the storage space. It can hold up to 3,500 books.

The new unit keeps the free service that uses AT&T’s wireless network to download a book in less than a minute and has no payments or contracts.

Though the new Kindle weighs just 8.7 ounces, and the body is 21 percent smaller, it has the same screen size. With wireless settings off, the battery lasts about one month.

The new Kindle is priced at $189 for the 3G model, and $139 for a unit that uses Wi-Fi for wireless connections. Amazon boasts a huge collection of books. It has 630,000 e-books.