Amazon’s Kindle Not Ready to Lie Down

The day after Apple released the device some industry watchers are expecting to help kill Amazon’s Kindle e-book reading device, Amazon released a statement seemingly set to diffuse the iPad’s early impact:

“Millions of people now own Kindles,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “And Kindle owners read, a lot. When we have both editions, we sell 6 Kindle books for every 10 physical books. This is year-to-date and includes only paid books -- free Kindle books would make the number even higher. It's been an exciting 27 months.”

As much as that sounds like bravado to some jaded ears, the Los Angeles Times seemed to have no trouble rounding up a group of users who are standing fast by their Kindles:

Since the Kindle was launched in late 2007 its advocates, including Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, have said that to reproduce the quiet, solitary experience of reading a book, e-readers should not tempt users with a panoply of digital distractions.

The iPad, on the other hand, is by design a multimedia device, equipped with dozens of entertainment features and primed to offer thousands more in the form of add-on applications.

Critics say that's not going to help anyone get to the end of the chapter.

“If you like your kids, get them an iPad so they can play games,” said Russ Wilcox, the head of E Ink Corp., which created the digital paper technology used by the Kindle and many other e-ink-based readers. “If you love them, get them an e-reader so they can actually read.”

The L.A. Times has much more to say, and it’s here.