When the first Amazon Kindle was released back in November 2007, no one thought that it would become the huge success that it is today. Amazon’s philosophy of letting you read a Kindle book on whatever device you own, whether it be one of their dedicated electronic ink readers or your smartphone, has helped propel them to the number one spot in the digital book space. Apple introduced iBooks in January 2010 in order to try and compete, but high prices and a glossy screen that inhibits reading outdoors has impeded their success. So where does Amazon go from here? Rumor has it that they’re going to introduce their own Android tablets later this year and slap the Amazon Android Store on top, but where does that leave the people who prefer to read off of an E Ink display?
The last Kindle came out in August 2010 and with it brought WiFi connectivity, letting it be sold to an international market. It came with a 6 inch 800 x 600 pixel screen, meaning it could only do 167 pixels per inch. Earlier this week we wrote two new screens, one from Samsung that does 2560 x 1600 pixels on a 10.1 inch screen and one from Toshiba that does 1280 x 720 pixels on a 4 inch screen. Looking to keep up with those figures, E Ink, in conjunction with Epson, have announced a new 9.7 inch display that does 2400 x 1650 pixels, delivering 300 pixels per inch. No word as to when this new display will start shipping in volume, but you can expect it to land inside a Kindle DX, the larger cousin to the 6 inch Kindle, at some point in the near future.
Now we’re curious, are you interested in electronic ink or would you rather read off of an LCD? With more and more magazines finally coming to the iPad, and our attention spans being obliterated thanks to the internet, it may be time to consider forgetting about E Ink and going for LCD.