
Chinese Firm Exhibits Kindle Look-alike - markbao
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20090711/172891/
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ATB
This clone is advertised as costing at least $209. Kindle 2 currently costs
$299. As far as I can tell from the sparse details provided, content is added
to this via a sim card.

If you've used a Kindle before to get content, it's readily apparent that the
killer app is the large library of content you can one-click buy online and
instantly appear on your device over its always-on wireless cell connection.
Virtually all Kindle books have roughly the first chapter free for download,
so you can easily sample everything available pretty much anywhere your Kindle
can get a cell connection (you can buy books from the Kindle, no need to use a
PC). You can also use the (free) internet access from your Kindle to read
webmail, browse, etc.

Given the lack of proper connectivity and presumably no support for Amazon's
DRMed books on this clone, it's not really a competitor, per se. At best, it's
an e-ink reader, which has an overlapping target market, but lacks pretty much
everything that makes Kindle so compelling. And $200 for a 'dumb' reader seems
pretty damn steep.

~~~
technomancy
> If you've used a Kindle before to get content, it's readily apparent that
> the killer app is the large library of content you can one-click buy online

Not at all; I have a Kindle, and I have entirely eschewed the DRM store. You
can download unencombered content from third-parties (like feedbooks.com) just
as easily as from Amazon itself; in fact the unencumbered content is arguably
more convenient since it can be backed up to your PC and read elsewhere. For
public-domain (classics) or friendly-licensed books it's awesome.

Plus this would work in any country (just pop in a SIM card) rather than being
limited to North America due to the Kindle's unfortunate use of CDMA. If my
Kindle had been this much cheaper and worked like this instead of tying in
with Amazon's store, I'd be thrilled.

------
jrockway
_"Peking University Founder Group independently developed this terminal, and
it has nothing to do with the Kindle," Founder International said._

Except for the fact that they completely stole the design, of course.

