Amazon's Kindle Sells Out In 5.5 Hours

necro81 writes "As reported on Engadget, Amazon's Kindle e-book reader has sold out. Charlie Rose's interview with Jeff Bezos reveals that the Kindle sold out within just 5-1/2 hours of going on sale. Amazon hasn't revealed how many it had in stock at launch, so it may just be that they didn't anticipate early demand. A check of the Kindle's product page shows that more will be rolling out starting December 3rd." Wired also has a brief head-to-head of the more prominent ebook readers and PCWorld has a review of the new gadget from Amazon.

Comments

Low production run?

[Jackdaw Rookery]

I wonder how many units were made available.

I somehow doubt it is a case of 'we made lots, but demand outstripped supply'. More likely this was a limited production run to test the waters.

Re:Low production run?

[dbolger]

Call me a cynic, but I'd say its more likely a case of a limited production run so they can get sites like Slashdot to report how they sold out in just 5.5 hours.

Re:Low production run?

[yakumo.unr]

I'd reserve judgement till you'd personally experienced an 800x600 eInk display really (such as the one Kimble uses), it's considerably different to any LCD/CRT with regards to eyestrain, how your eyes will perceive the resolution.

Front Page of Amazon

[phantomcircuit]

Well yeah it was the front page of amazon, yeah the entire front page.

Basically the best advertising that any device could have.

Re:DRM Suckage

[QuantumG]

No. E-Books has been buried for long enough. It is time to accept this technology into our lives.

Crack it.

Re:Reading an LCD

[Stochastism]

The e-ink is the only thing going for this critter of a device. The old saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes to mind. Books are:

• Proven: they have a 600 year history of mass production.
• Robust: at worst, they fall apart after 20 years or two toddlers.
• Reliable: the words don't dissapear if it gets too hot/cold/wet/dry or an EMP event occurs.
• Archival attributes: we will still be able to read in 100 years, but we might not be able to open DRM protected files.
• Portable: they are more pocket sized than Kindle.
• Batteries not included: because you don't need any.
• Transferable: they have resale value including content... legally.
• High contrast: higher even than e-ink.
• Flammability: despite the name, Kindle's probably don't burn well. A definite negative for the Puritan at heart.
• Light weight: unless you get the hard-back edition.
• Accessible: they don't require a network-connection, so they work all over the world.

I still say OLPC's XO laptop is better :)

[timothy]

More versatile, has a camera, reads a wider variety of formats. It's a (funny little, purpose-built, not-your-ordinary) *laptop*, but it has a book-reading mode and a 200dpi screen (in monochrome mode).

A bit bigger than the Kindle, sure, but sure seems like the one I'd rather have in my backpack / fallout shelter / carry-on bag. After all, does the Kindle have a game pad? :)

timothy