The Lowdown on the New Kindle

The popularity of the new Kindle from Amazon may best be told by the fact that the unit sold out in about 5.5 hours. But over the last week we have uncovered numerous assessments of the new e-book reader. Not all have been enamored with the Bezos creation.

Robert Scoble spent a week giving the new Amazon Kindle ebook reader a test and declared the Bezos unit a failure.

David Pogue of the New York Times felt very differently about the Kindle calling it by far “the most successful stab yet at taking reading material into the digital age.”

Meanwhile, David Carnoy of CNET gave the Kindle s 7.5 out of 10, stating that it “holds a distinct advantage over Sony’s Reader and is a promising evolution of the electronic book.” On the negative side, there was the issue of the $399 price tag and the need for content to draw a wider audience.

All in all we believe this is a more than credible start to a new era in the literary world. To quote the famous line, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and this baby will be upgraded many times in the months ahead. But Bezos is definitely on to something, the options that the unit provide could indeed revolutionize both the learning and the publication process.