“World’s First Color E-Book Reader Goes on Sale” – Fujitsu’s Flepia…03.19.09

Wired blog reports in World’s First Color E-Book Reader Goes on Sale:

“Fujitsu’s Flepia, the color e-book last seen in testing at an upscale Tokyo restaurant, is now available to buy. Don’t get too excited though — even if you’re in Japan, where the Flepia is on sale, it will cost you a whopping ¥99,750, or just over $1000.

You get a lot for your money, though. The reader has a an 8″ screen which displays 260,000 colors, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (b and g), a mini USB port and, most important of all, a touch screen (although it comes with a stylus so we expect that it is a resistive touch screen, not capacitive like the iPhone.)

This is completed by a soft, on-screen keyboard (just like the Kindle should have) and a battery life of 40 hours (continuos use — Fujitsu says 2400 page turns). Books are stored on an SD card and can be bought from the online bookstore Papyless.

Curiously, the Flepia seems to be a kind of tablet/e-book hybrid. Along with the book reading software, the device comes loaded with Windows CE 5, meaning support for e-mail, spreadsheets, web browsing and the like. If you view this as a low powered, long life computer instead of a color e-book reader, it starts to look less expensive. The Flepia will start shipping on April 20th…”

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Amazon Press Conference on Kindle Slated for Feb. 9…01.27.09

This report about the status of the Kindle from The All Things Digital [AllThingsD] blog post Time to Crank Up The Kindle Rumor Mill: Amazon Press Conference Set For Feb. 9 :

“When will see a new version of the Kindle, Amazon’s much-talked about e-book reader? Maybe in two weeks: The company will be holding an ‘important’ press conference in New York on Monday February 9, it tells me.

Besides the where and when (10am at the Morgan Library in midtown), the company hasn’t provided any other details. But I’ll note that the last time Amazon (AMZN) held a New York press conference, in November 2007, it was to unveil Kindle 1.0. When CEO Jeff Bezos spoke to Walt Mossberg at All Things Digital in May 2008, he wouldn’t peg a time frame for a new Kindle iteration. But it seems reasonable to expect a new one more than a year after the launch of the initial version.”

AND…

CrunchGear also reported today in its post Amazon press conference on 2/9: I can haz kindle too?  :

“Last time Amazon had a press conference they released a little something I like to call the best ebook reader in the whole wide world. Well, we’ve got a seat at another conference on Monday, February 9 and unless they’re announcing a Bezos-themed amusement park in the Ukraine, I’m pretty sure we’re going to see the Kindle 2.

As Michael wrote before the holiday:

The images that surfaced of the new Kindle in October are real – it’s a longer device but not as thick as the original Kindle, and fixes some of the button issues that plague users (like accidental page turns). A larger-screen student version is still scheduled for the first half of 2009.

The event will be at the lush Morgan Library & Museum which seems to suggest something to do with books. If our sources are correct, the new Kindle will be quite a bit nicer than the original model. It was originally described as being what the iPod Touch was to the original 1st gen iPod – a quantum leap in gadget styling and technology.”

Photo credit: The Boy Genius