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.

Re:Low production run?

[Prof.Phreak]

I wonder how many units were made available.

Only 1. It was bought 5.5 hours after launch by Jeff to ensure amazon.com was still up.

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:I was interested until

[roscivs]

It does play mp3s. And you can copy things via USB to avoid the fee. You can even have Amazon convert them to its special format for free, email the doc back to you instead of transferring it wirelessly, and avoid the fee.

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.

But then again...

[Joce640k]

A lifetime of free wireless access to Wikipedia for $399 - that's a pretty good deal.

I'm surprised it doesn't include "amazon email".

Re:As a Sony ebook user

[doyoulikeworms]

Esoteric? Typical American attitude. Why, Korean Automotive Foreign Direct Investment in Europe: The Effects of Economic Integration on Motivations and Patterns of FDI and Industrial Location (Kindle Edition) is standard bedside reading for many of us 50 million South Koreans, thank you very much.

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

My display died in 3 hours!

[bhodikhan]

What a mess. I ordered one. They shipped me two. (only billed for one). The one I opened died after about 3 hours. Unit still worked but the eInk screen was dead. Sent that one back for a refund. In my opinion the build quality sucks and there isn't really any good place to hold the unit where you aren't accidentally pressing some button. I still have my free unit new in the box. I'm so un-impressed I may just send it back to Amazon for some other dumb bastard to buy it. I hope this endeavor dies in a big way to warn others.

why bother?

[alizard]

Add Linux e-reader software to a Linux-based Nokia N800 Internet Tablet and you're there, and if you insist on having access that isn't via WiFi, add a
Better performance, and no vendor lockin.