Check out the new Kindle ad which mocks iPad’s screen for outdoor viewing. Kindle is a cheaper e-reader and works better in bright sunlight. It is also smaller and lighter, and you can hold it with one hand without pain. For everything else, there is iPad.

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Amazon will release a new Kindle version on Oct 19, dubbed “Kindle U.S. & International Wireless”, that is able to wirelessly download content in over 100 countries. Priced at $279, it is the same 6-inch device as the current Kindle other than the new international wireless feature.

The current Kindle is now called “Kindle U.S. Wireless”, with price fell from $299 to $259.

“With this new Kindle, you can get your books, newspapers, and magazines delivered wirelessly while at home or abroad in over 100 countries. Whether you’re in Paris, Mumbai, or Sao Paulo, you can think of a book and be reading it in less than 60 seconds.” – Jeff Bezos

With the new device, international customers can now order Kindle with international wireless. However content and pricing vary for customers living outside of the U.S. Check if Kindle is available in your country.

Pre-order Kindle U.S. & International Wireless

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Google signaled its intent to enter e-book retailing at the annual BookExpo convention in New York over the weekend. Google will launch a program by end of 2009 that would enable publishers to sell e-book direct to consumers through Google.

Google’s move takes on Amazon Kindle in the growing e-book marketplace. Google will allow publishers to set the selling price, unlike Kindle’s aggressive pricing strategy by Amazon. Most of Kindle edition of latest best sellers are selling for $9.99, far less than the typical $26 for hardcover version.

Google’s e-book offering will allow consumers to read books on any device with Internet access, including mobile phones. And an offline mode will allow consumers to read cached versions of the e-book when Internet is not available.

Increasingly, Google is looking to charging for content as revenue stream. Google has said before it might eventually charge for premium content on YouTube.

Apple is rumored to be preparing a Kindle like reader and e-book marketplace. Many see e-book as the most likely market segment for Apple as it is a simple extension for Apple to the iTunes ecosystems. But we predict Apple is not launching its e-book products anytime soon.

An e-book marketplace might not even be in Apple’s drawing board. Apple does not like book, Steve Jobs once said “the fact is that people don’t read anymore…”. Apple is lukewarm in building an electronic book marketplace, the audiobooks in iTunes is licensed from Audible, a company acquired by Amazon.com in 2008.

With smartphone competition heating up, Apple is best focus on its iPhone business at the moment. A brand new hardware category will only draw the attention thin. Instead of launching a dedicated e-book reader hardware like the Kindle, we predict Apple will launch a general purpose OS X tablet computer. A tablet touch computer that promotes the technologies in Snow Leopard, that can be double up as capable e-book reader. Who knows, we might see Google launching their e-book marketplace together with Apple’s new tablet.

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Arriving few weeks after Amazon launched its new Kindle 2 device, this expands Amazon’s e-book content to reach more than its own Kindle device. As promised during the Kindle 2 launch event, we can expect Kindle support to come to other mobile device.

The Kindle iPhone app does not connect to Kindle Store yet. You have to visit the Kindle Store via website to purchase ebook. The app also does not support text-to-speech feature as in the Kindle 2 device. Other than that, this is great news for Kindle users and potentially could turn many iPhone owners to the Kindle platform.

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So what is new and different and attractive about this new hotness?

• Kindle 2 looks nicer and is thinner at 0.36 inch. It is slightly lighter at 10.2 ounces compared with 10.3 ounces for Kindle 1.
• The screen is better with 16 shades of gray and can turn pages 20 times faster.
• Comes with new Text-To-Speech feature that reads the book to you in either male or female computer voice.
• Amazon’s new Whispersync feature will allow you to continue your reading when you pick up your ebook on a separate Kindle.
• There is a new 5-way joystick control instead of slider, for a less clumsy navigation. And keyboard has better layout.
• It has 2G memory and can hold 7 times more content, about 1,500 titles at a time. Kindle 1 can do about 200.
• It comes in only white color although a pink color version is used during the press event. Amazon should auction off the pink version for charity.
• Comes with the New Oxford American Dictionary with 250,000 word definitions that appear instantly at page bottom.
• Author Stephen King has written a new book “UR” exclusively for this Kindle launch.
• Kindle Store now has over 230,000 books for you to choose from, 103 of the 110 New York Times best sellers are available. Kindle 1 has about 90,000 books when it first launch. Kindle 2 now also has more newspapers, magazines and blogs to choose from.

With the success of Kindle 1, the times has finally come for mainstream ebook adoption. The momentum continues with Kindle 2. Kindle ebooks now make up 10% of all Amazon book sales and this number can only increase over time.

Amazon has not revealed its plan for international version of Kindle reader but Jeff Bezos said that Amazon is working to make Kindle reading available on mobile phones. No device is mentioned but let’s hope iPhone is one of them.

Will Apple join in the ebook marketplace competition? It would look likely so judging from the enormous iTunes advantage. What Apple lacks is a proper ebook reader hardware. Mr Jobs, are you a Kindle user?

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