The Graphite version of the new 6" Kindle

They said the Kindle was dead. They said it could never compete with Apple’s iPad, and the waves of Windows and Android-based tablets to come. They yelled that it wasn’t versatile enough, they derided it for it’s singular drive.

They should all stop talking, because they’re all dead wrong.

The first clue was that earlier this month, Amazon announced that it sold more E-Books in Q4 of 2009 than it did the old-fashioned paper kind, and a lot of that selling, was through the Kindle.

The second clue came in when the Kindle’s price point dropped and started FLYING off the shelves. It’s been Amazon’s best selling item for “two years running.”

The third clue came when suddenly, they were all gone.

Kindle has always been popular, but it’s always been out of reach for the average user– the price, just a touch above what seemed logical for an electronic book reader, especially when it came out two years ago, and few saw its potential. But recently with price drops, the device has seen an explosion of popularity, and if anything, that popularity has been bolstered by the iPad (and perhaps how it’s not trying to be that device).

The new Kindles have taken a lesson from the new kid on Apple’s block. They’ve got a cheapy WiFi version at $140.00 and then the 3G WhisperNet version for $190.00.

Each has:

1. New E-Ink displays with claims of 50% higher contrast than other E-Readers
2. the same no-glare screen that allows readers to pull it out while sitting out under the sun.
3. Slimmer body (21% slimmer)
4. 8.7 ounces, so less than a paperback book
5. 3,500 books worth of storage
6. connectivity to any AT&T wifi hotspot in the US (without a password or clumsy logins) and, if you have the 3G version, access to new content anywhere you receive AT&T 3G
7. Up to 1 month of battery life (with wireless off)

The New 6" Kindle. Thinner than a standard pencil.

Of these seven features, lucky number seven sticks out to us the most here, because it’s tailored to the Symbiotek. By that I mean long battery life is key to an E-Reader if it wants to properly replace books, the current traditional technology we use to consume poetry, literature, satire and so on.

Don’t get me wrong, the iPad is an evolutionary device that will become a platform for all sorts of mobile computing but if you’re in it for the reading, 10-12hours on a charge isn’t going to suffice. The Kindle isn’t trying to be the jack of all trades that the iPad is, and that’s its strength.

When you want to cross people out of a centuries-old paradigm, companies need to give them what I call a TRUE upgrade. leave nothing behind. A true upgrade to paper books gives you everything you have with traditional paperbacks, but a little bit more– or in Kindle’s case, a lot more. That’s what the kindle is.

You want to get lost in your books, and with the Kindle it’s easy to do that. Turn to a page and there you are. No Facebook notifications or the like to get in your way. Kindle doesnt require a second hand to ‘flip’ pages, so you can lay in more positions as you fall deeper into the content than with a traditional book. You can read it in sunlight on your deck without the annoyance of glare. You don’t have to think about charging it with any regularity. It’s light, so you can hold it longer without noticing it. The plastic/graphite is warm to the touch since it doesn’t have a metal back, and it’s not flashy, so the attention’s on the content, not the device. It’s got everything a book’s got, but there’s no paper waste, there’s no need for loads of bookshelves, there’s no need to find time to hop in the car or on the bike and head to the library or book store; and the books are cheap with best sellers starting at $9.99.

With the exception of that sensual feel of paper, you’re not really losing anything — it’s the the TRUE upgrade.

Tech like this really speaks to us. With devices this cheap, it’s conceivable that schools (and I don’t mean higher education alone) could leverage it to get students reading more often, as the ten pound, back-breaking model of the text book can quickly become a thing of the past. Text book version updates are tantamount to software patches for a few dollars, rather than mandating that the students buy a whole new text books at full price, and best of all, maybe we’ll see a possible change in the future, from Generation Fat, to Generation Lit – a generation of kids, toting their books, everywhere they go, devouring knowledge when they have a chance, and getting more out of life because of it.