Kindle: the past and future of the electronic book

Kindle: the past and future of the electronic book

It was November 2007 when on the 19th Amazon launched its first Kindle, a device for reading electronic books. And now, looking back, we can see the profound change that has occurred in people’s reading habits. In addition, its history makes us a little more aware of the entire technological revolution that we have experienced since the beginning of the century.

From the origin of the Kindle to today

The first Kindle was far from today’s devices, but it was an overwhelming success. In fact, within a few hours of going on sale, stocks were sold out and it was not until months later, in April, when the well-known platform had stock available again.

On a practical level, this ebook had a 600×800 pixel screen and weighed almost 300 grams. In addition, it had a built-in keyboard and expandable memory (with SD) of 256 MB. Of course, in terms of connectivity, not to mention “G” or similar terms, it included a USB and CDMA connection.

With all this, time passed, the generations of these devices quickly began to follow one another and the range of products also increased. Already in 2009 the second generation arrived and it can be said that the jump from one to another has been annual until reaching the last one. The eighth generation that saw the light last year.

Although the history of Kindle cannot be reviewed , without mentioning another of its greatest exponents Kindle Paperwhite , a different model of e-book reader that went on sale for the first time in 2012 and has been consolidated over the years. The last witness to its evolution was the third generation launched in 2015.

Of the main features of this version of Kindle we can say that: the two e-readers have a six-inch screen, the size is the same and the weight is very similar, although slightly less in the 2015 reader. But it is the differences that mark this evolution. The internal memory has gone from 2 Gb to 4 Gb, the battery life has decreased from eight to six weeks (it is also true that some features consume more).

Apart from these products, its latest releases have been the Kindle 8 and the Kindle Oasis. Where this evolution can perhaps be best seen is in the details. Of course, the Kindle 8 does not remember what a keyboard is except for its frame, it is all screen. Also striking is the change in his weight, which has been drastically reduced by almost half. This e-reader has a bluetooth connection with Voice View screen reader software for the visually impaired.

Meanwhile, the Kindle Oasis has been designed with a 6-inch screen, has an internal memory of 4 Gb and has USB and Wi-Fi connection pre-installed, and also offers the possibility of buying a 3G version.

Diversification of the Kindle

The Kindle world has been growing and not just as far as e-reader is concerned. A generation of authors has also been born under its wing and other products closely related to ebooks have been created. Among them we find:

  • Amazon Kindle Fire is a tablet created and designed as the multimedia version of ebooks. With direct access to the Amazon application store and also, being a Tablet, it allows you to watch movies or series in streaming.
  • It is likely that if literature books have not been included yet, they will pick up the already known Kindle Generation . It is the name that refers to the authors who edit and publish their stories digitally through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). It is the cradle through which many of them make themselves known to different publishers that sign them as new promises of literature. Who knows if the beginnings of the great novelists of the early 21st century will soon be told on Kindle. The writer Esteban Navarro has been recognized as one of the founders of the Kindle Generation by Amazon, in fact, it has been said that he was the one who named the authors born in KDP.
  • Kindle Unlimited is a service that gives its users access to read more than a million books. To have access to Kindle Unlimited, you need to subscribe (9.99 euros per month). It is a completely independent tool of whether or not you are an Amazon Premium customer.
David