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Amazon Kindle 4

Updated on March 24, 2011

The new Amazon Kindle 4 promises to be the most anticipated and no doubt most successful Kindle ever.

What makes me so sure? You just need to look at the history of the Kindle line of products to see the impact it has had. Consider this – of the 15 million items for sale on Amazon.com at any point in time, the Kindle 3 has been both the best selling, and the highest rated product on offer. Given the huge amount of products and calibre of the competition this is quite an achievement.

The Kindle series of products have continuously been regarded as the leaders in the e-book world and this pedigree, coupled with the familiarity that millions already have with a Kindle means the Amazon Kindle 4 will likely be a bestseller as well.

What the Amazon Kindle 4 may resemble:

A Kindle 4 with colour and touchscreen could boast a larger screen size, with little increase in the overall size of the device.
A Kindle 4 with colour and touchscreen could boast a larger screen size, with little increase in the overall size of the device.

Ok, that’s great, but how about some more detail on the Amazon Kindle 4?

Amazon has so far been very tight lipped about the Kindle 4. However, by looking at the development history of previous Kindle models, taking into account the current market trends, and sniffing around the internet rumour mill we can make some educated guesses as to what to expect and when.

Amazon Kindle 4 Release Date

The question everyone has is when will the Amazon Kindle 4 be released? Well, there are a number of things to consider when trying to establish a launch date:

  • What is the competition doing? Leaving too much of an interval between successive Kindle models gives competitors a chance to leapfrog ahead in terms of technology and it could erode a products' sales momentum. On the other hand, Amazon will not want to launch the Kindle 4 until it they are confident that it is completely ready to go to market. Nothing would ruin the fantastic reputation that Amazon Kindles have faster than rushing an inferior product to market.
  • What are the seasonal times when you can maximise sales from a new Kindle? The obvious answer here is the period running up to Christmas. This is a golden window of time where consumers already have an expectation to spend, traffic to Amazon.com will be huge, and when marketing spend can be very effective. Before the Kindle was launched it was possible to pre-order the device, so this is likely the way in which the first sales will be made.
  • When have new Kindle models historically been launched? The three existing Kindle models have been launched roughly a year apart with quarter four being the favoured launch time.

Given these factors, a November 2011 release date for the Amazon Kindle 4 seems most likely. This will be in the peak spending season on the run up to Christmas, it provides a response to the launch of competitor’s products such as the Apple Ipad 2, and it fits in with Amazons historical Kindle launch timeline.

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The Kindle 3 has been a huge success - so will the Kindle 4 follow in its footsteps?

Amazon Kindle 4 Features

The next big question is what new features will be incorporated into the Amazon Kindle 4?

Firstly, there are a number of improvements that are pretty much guaranteed to be included in any new Amazon Kindle 4:

  • A marginally thinner, lighter device
  • Improved battery life
  • Greater storage capacity

These improvements reflect the general tendency for new products to take advantage of the steady and measurable trend of components becoming smaller, more efficient, more capable and comparatively cheaper than older examples.

The more contentious and speculative question is whether the Amazon Kindle 4 will incorporate a colour screen and touchscreen capability.

Colour screen

First of all, it is debateable whether the addition of a colour screen to the Kindle 4 will add to the user experience. The Kindle is first and foremost an e-reader, and is at its best when reading black and white text. In this regard a colour screen does not add much benefit however Amazon will also need to be aware of the trend of other media such as newspapers and magazines to offer their content online.

What’s more, there is also a trend of multiple devices converging into one (the iPhone 4 for example) so there is a risk of creating a device that only does one task very well but which can’t compete with devices that perform many functions.

Touch screen

There are a couple of things that suggest a touchscreen may be incorporated in to the Amazon Kindle 4. First of all, in 2010 Amazon acquired a company called Touchco, which specialises in touchscreen technology. Touchco technology is a less expensive option than that used by the likes of Apple and could be included in the Kindle 4 without a major increase in price.

Secondly, by using a touchscreen on the Kindle 4, Amazon could remove the QWERTY keyboard used on the Kindle 3, leaving more room for an increased screen size without making the device much larger overall.

Other potential features of the Amazon Kindle 4 include:

  • An external memory slot- e.g. SD
  • Replaceable battery
  • An enhanced OS
  • A greater range of colours

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Amazon Kindle 4 Price

The big question here is whether Amazon will be able to offer the Kindle 4 for the same price as the Kindle 3, and include colour, touchscreen etc.

Most opinions on this suggest that the Amazon Kindle 4 price will need to be somewhat more than that of the Kindle 3. ************************************************************************************************

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