The ebook market is currently exploding as the traditional book publishing industry scrambles to find out how they will compete with the hi tech way of reading and authors continue to pursue additional income via the new distribution models. Amazon has been leading the way, say experts in the industry, and its Kindle reading device has sold extremely well, although the company has not released exact sales figures to date. The latest model of the Kindle from Amazon is said to be over 20% smaller than the previous version and weighs 8.5 oz. In addition, the well known online retail company’s latest product features an improved version of its patented E Ink display system to help readers get a better view of the text they are looking to read. Experts in the ebook industry had said they felt the iPad device from Apple could have been competition for Amazon’s Kindle, but so far the iPad has not managed to put much of a dent in the Kindle’s sales despite the devices being somewhat similar in terms of price. However, this latest edition, called the Kindle 3 by most of the industry, is going in the opposite direction of the iPad by offering a lower price and a smaller, lighter device focused on offering the ability to read publications rather than performing a host of PC oriented tasks.
Experts say that the 8.5 oz weight of the new Kindle should help readers be able to hold the device for far longer periods of time which is what book readers want. This latest Kindle incarnation is offered for $140 with full Wi Fi capability.