By the way a previous commentator wanted to read ePub books on his Kindle I suggest check out Calibre which converts ePub books to the Kindle format. Not ideal that the Kindle does not support ePub natively but at least you can convert and then read them

I am thinking of buying an e-reader. I tried the Nook and I didn’t like it at all. The touch screen interface was too confusing. I suspect a Nook version 2 will be much better.

My dad has a kindle and I find it much more intuitive to use than the nook. However I like to read textbooks and quite often they have color diagrams where the color is an aid that helps in understanding it. So I need color. I don’t need millions of colors like an LCD or high quality magazine style, but I need color like in a newspaper/textbook which as I understand E-Ink is now capable of. The battery life is nice, and also the Kindle 2 seems easier on my eyes than my computer LCD. Also the kindle not supporting e-ink standards and adobe DRM is an issue for me. If I’m going to spend a small fortune on an e-reader I want a wide selection of books from different publishers… Also the 3G is from Spring and their network doesn’t work everywhere. So unless you have a WIFI enabled DX (which is not financially viable to me with the iPad being a general purpose device so close in price) you are SOL. I would probably have bought a Kindle 2 with WIFI.

I have played with an iPad in the apple store. Mostly iBooks seems to not have that many books. Also I’m not a super big fan of the iBooks interface. I haven’t seen the kindle app though. The iPad is also a lot of money. And it is pretty locked down for that money. A Netbook can be more functional cheaper. Basically the only appeal of the iPad for me is as an e-reader. If all the publishers that have been holding back from Amazon go to Apple, then it is a no brainer. It seems like a lot of the publishing industry is interested in the iPad. If all the textbooks become available for the iPad, then there is no contest and I will get an iPad. But if the iPad interest and different prices result in the publishers coming to all devices (kindle, nook, etc.) then I would prefer a color e-ink like reader.

Basically if the kindle had color e-ink, wifi, support for adobe drm ePub/general ePub, there would be no contest and I would have bought it. I know a lot of people who buy the Kindle, use software to strip the DRM off of ebooks bought in other stores (as well as amazon) and then use their books as they want. Overall Apple and Amazon did a great job of transitioning the music industry to unlocked mp3s. So hopefully somehow they can transition the book industry into unlocked epub or something. Although it certainly seems like Amazon is into locking people into its proprietary format, while Apple/Nook support several formats. And with an iPad you can get the amazon app to have the open formats, apple’s format, and amazon’s format.

There are limits to which enhancements can be made given the hardware constraints of the existing K2 wave products. Amazon at some point will decide to devote its limited developer resources to a new more open hardware platform. That time is probably now.

The elapsed time since the original K2 wave announcements, and the plethora of new e-book reader announcements stemming from CES 2010 lead me to believe that Amazon will be announcing a new wave of hardware products somewhere around the end of calendar year 2010. Associated with this K3 announcement will be, I believe, significant price reductions in the K2 wave of products. I believe that the K3 wave of products will be priced at or about the current K2 pricing level. The recent decision on the part of Amazon to distribute the K2 wave of products via Target (albeit with manufacturer-controlled pricing — nevertheless target can effectively discount these, if they choose, by pairing a Kindle purchase with a “free” gift card) augurs well for this scenario, and will give them distribution and pricing “headroom” to facilitate any K2 wave price reductions they choose to make.

I would expect the K3 wave of products to be compelling, although I don’t think color will be part of the equation (I hope multi-touch will be). All kinds of hardware-based user interface improvements are possible as well as support for non-Western alphabets, epub support, a pdf reader as good as Adobe’s, and user customizations(fonts, screen savers, etc.). Of course much of what happens in this arena will revolve around whether Amazon looks at the Kindle as a viable long-term product line, or rather as an interim step they have taken to “pump prime” the e-book marketplace. I am sure that even inside Amazon, you can find groups arguing for either or both of these viewpoints. Certainly the Amazon decision to support the iPad as a viable eReader within the Amazon e-book storefront is interesting.

Whether they decide to announce the K3 wave in advance of the 2010 Christmas selling season, or defer it until just after (as they did with the K2 wave) is also open to question. I could argue it either way; with perhaps giving a slight nod to a pre-Christmas announcement driven by all the hoopla surrounding the iPad release, and the fact that there will be many more choices for e-book reading devices during the Christmas 2010 selling season.

So, if price is one of the factors holding up a potential eReader purchasing decision, then waiting to see if potential K2 wave discounts appear, might be a good option. If having the latest and greatest gadget is important, then waiting may also be your preferred path.

I think that Amazon should cater to this niche audience and forget about the rest. They have the best ecosystem for books. Spreading the love to other devices will only add to their revenue over time.

Just my 0.02 cents.

LDD.

The major reason for wanting an iPad — NO BUTTONS. I want a device that is touch screen only, with no breakable buttons. However, I also want something that I can actually read. The iPad is not very good for reading books at night. That glaring white background is an eye sore. In addition, the iPad is a lot heavier than I thought it would be.

If Amazon can come out with a Kindle that is touch screen, no buttons (except maybe the on/off button), e-ink, with the option to add background lighting and a small form factor that is light and not easily breakable, I will buy it in a minute.

The iPad is a utilitarian device, doing many different things. I really don’t need that. I want an eReader to carry all of my books. That’s all. No games, videos, web surfing, music. Just books.

LDD.