No Color Kindle Soon – Bezos no comments
Yesterday at Amazon’s annual shareholders meeting Jeff Bezos seemed to unkindle any hopes that a color version of the Kindle ereader would be making an appearance any time soon.
When asked by a shareholder when a color Kindle would be available Bezos replied that “high-quality color is still some ways out.” He also said that he had seen reflective color screens in the laboratory, but that “they are not quite ready for production.”
Of course “some ways out” and “not quite ready” are pretty vague phrases. Mirasol is said to be on track for production in time for product to hit the shelves by this year’s holiday season if not a little before. If Amazon plans on sticking with e-Ink however, it will most likely be the first part of next year before PVI has their color solution ready. Liquavista should also be ready the first part of next year.
In good news for readers, Bezos also indicated that the Kindle will continue to be a device focused on reading – “The Kindle will compete with these LCD devices like the iPad by being a very focused product.” This would seem to weaken the theory that Amazon is preparing a multifunction Super-Kindle, perhaps with a Pixel Qi screen, to compete directly with the iPad.
Of course Amazon is always in stealth mode when it comes to talking about its future Kindle strategy – which is to their advantage – so we won’t know until they actually announce the next Kindle. In some ways I actually find Amazon’s secrecy more trustworthy than I do the PR methods of a company like Plastic Logic which is constantly telling us what it is going to be doing a year or two from now and still has not released any actual product.
(source: MarketWatch)
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