Kindle

Kindle, any of the portable wireless electronic reading devices (e-readers) produced by the American company Amazon.com. The first Kindle was released in 2007. Amazon’s Kindles became the most popular e-readers, and Amazon e-books were estimated to constitute two-thirds of the electronic book (e-book) market.

Kindles use a display technology called electronic paper, which produces a sharp screen image that resembles text printed on paper. Roughly the size and weight of a trade paperback book, with a 15.2-cm (6-inch) monochromatic screen, the original Kindle could store more than 200 e-books and could be loaded with new material from Amazon through a free wireless connection, although only in the United States. The Kindle was also equipped with a limited Web browser that let American users access the Internet.

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Publishing plus the power of the Amazon platform

The Kindle was not the first e-reader; other companies, such as the Japanese Sony Corporation, had previously produced and marketed their own e-readers. What made the Kindle different was having the marketing power of Amazon to distribute titles. A vast selection of e-books, as well as many newspapers and magazines, are available in the Kindle Store. Amazon also has a self-publishing program, Kindle Direct Publishing, that allows authors to directly upload books to the Kindle Store. The device’s wireless capability enables users to buy and read material anytime.

The introduction of the Kindle was met with some skepticism. Doubts were raised over who would pay the relatively high cost for the unit, priced at $399 for its initial release. Nevertheless, Amazon sold out its entire inventory of the devices as soon as the product went on sale. In 2009 Amazon released the Kindle 2, a slimmer reader with more storage capacity, a crisper display, better battery life, a small joystick controller, and the ability to convert text to speech.

In May 2009 Amazon introduced a larger reader, the Kindle DX, with a 9.7-inch (24.6-cm) screen. The Kindle DX, which had an introductory price of $489, also included more storage (four gigabytes) and native support for Adobe Systems Incorporated’s PDF file format. The latter feature is especially important for replicating newspapers and textbooks, which typically contain graphic elements related to the text. In July 2010 Amazon announced that it would cut the price of its entry-level Kindle, which offered a smaller, lighter case than its predecessors, with improved battery life and a faster page-refresh rate. Debuting the following month was a WiFi-equipped model listed at $139, while a 3G version, which accessed AT&T’s mobile broadband network, sold for $189.

In May 2011 Amazon announced that Kindle e-books were outselling all printed books. That same year the Kindle Touch, which had a touchscreen, was introduced. The next year Amazon released the Kindle Paperwhite, the first model with an illuminated screen.

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The Kindle shakes up publishing

After Amazon’s first full year of selling books in 1996, book publishers praised the new service as a great way to help them clear their backlists of slow-selling books. However, with the introduction of the Kindle, tensions began to build between publishers and Amazon. The company wanted to sell new e-books for a fixed price, well below what new printed books sold for, prompting many complaints from the publishing industry.

By 2010 the rift between book publishers and Amazon over the price of e-books had grown. The publishing company Macmillan Books threatened to pull its e-books from Amazon, which retaliated by removing all Macmillan books, both printed and electronic, from the site. However, within weeks, Amazon capitulated and allowed Macmillan and other publishers to set prices of e-books.

In 2009 the company introduced its first publishing line, AmazonEncore, dedicated to popular self-published and out-of-print books. It also let individuals publish their own e-books. In 2011 its e-book ambitions led to the launch of Amazon Publishing with the intent to develop and publish its own titles. That year Amazon announced that Kindle e-books were outselling all printed books. Although many book publishers continue to derive significant revenue through sales at Amazon.com, the company is no longer considered by publishers merely as another bookseller. It is now also a major competitor in their industry.