It makes sense that the premier online book retailer would want to become the premier digital book distributor. According to the New York Times, Amazon.com is finally getting ready to show off the Kindle, an e-book reader that can wirelessly download material from Amazon's store.
The device is rumored to be priced between $400 and $500 (a good couple of Benjamins more than Sony's Reader). Besides wireless, the Kindle will reportedly include a keyboard (for notetaking and Web browsing), the ability to subscribe to newspaper feeds like the Times and The Wall Street Journal, and the inclusion of free reference books. Unfortunately, the device purportedly uses a proprietary format so that books bought on Amazon can only be read on the Kindle.
Sony resuscitated the e-book market last year. Can Amazon actually revolutionize it the way it did for online book sales? Analysts are skeptical (so am I), but let's see what October brings.
