Amazon Hopes to Kindle E-Reading Fervor - Page 2

Spectators examine Amazon's new Kindle. Photo: Judy Mottl

While the first generation of the Kindle shipped with 256MB of internal storage -- roughly equivalent to 200 books -- the revamped version offers 2GB, which Amazon said enables it to house 1,500 titles.

Kindle 2 also includes a 25 percent stronger battery. According to Amazon, the device can run without a charge for up to two weeks if the wireless service is off, with that span reduced to four or five days if wireless remains on.

With the first Kindle, users could read for about a week without using wireless, and had to recharge about every other day with wireless enabled.

Still a niche?

Yet the sleeker, sexier design and new features won't draw a mass fan base anytime soon, experts said.

For one reason, Amazon's current price of $359 may be too high to encourage users beyond a niche group of enthusiasts. The unit first sold for $399, before a price drop last Spring to $359. Bezos has said that the cost of the technology in the unit precludes further price cuts.

"The value proposition isn't appealing to the average worker," Van Baker, a Gartner analyst, told InternetNews.com. "While this new device sparks interest in the Kindle, it's not going spark mass market ignition."

That's despite the fact that e-reading is a growing pastime. A new National Endowment for the Arts study said nearly 15 percent of all U.S. adults read literature online last year, and 84 percent of adults who read offline literature also downloaded books from the Internet last year. For those who read online articles, essays or blogs, the book-reading rate is 77 percent.

Ross Rubin, an analyst with NPD, agreed that that current costs, among other reasons, make it unlikely for e-book readers to catch on for a wide audience.

"It's going to take a combination of a lower price point and a different content focus to drive these product to mass scale," Rubin told InternetNews.com. "I'm a little surprised that they didn't lower the price."

Kindle's content prices haven't changed, either. Books cost $9.99, newspapers range from $5.99 to $14.99 monthly, blog services start at 99 cents and magazine subscriptions start at $1.25 a month. Users download the content through Kindle's wireless connection to Sprint's high-speed EVDO data network.

Still, not everyone thinks e-book readers will remain a niche interest.

Bestselling novelist Stephen King, who made a surprise appearance at today's event, said books and e-readers go together "like peanut butter and chocolate."

"It isn't likely they're competing with each other," King said, adding that the unit makes reading more convenient.

"We read when we're on walks and on treadmills," he said. "You're going to like this gadget."

During the day's events, the horror author also read from a new novella he wrote exclusively for release on the Kindle. The story, "Ur," stars a demonic Kindle. Bezos chuckled at the description.