Computerworld: Kindle Top E-Book Reader... For Now

In the ongoing battle for who has the best e-book reader, after careful consideration and rigorous testing, Computerworld has pronounced that Amazon’s Kindle is the best of the bunch. But maybe only for a minute:

The latest-generation Kindle raises the bar even higher than the vaunted Kindle2 -- it is smaller and lighter, has a brighter screen, and comes with double the memory and significantly better battery life. Most important, the price was lowered even further for the basic 3G model. The public responded to the new Kindle so enthusiastically that it was sold out and back-ordered within hours of being announced.

And if you’re waiting for interest in electronic book technology to peter out, don’t hold your breath:

For instance, Stieg Larsson’s Swedish thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo became the first e-book to sell more than a million downloads. E Ink Corp., the company that manufactures most of the monochrome displays used in e-readers, projects that it will manufacture over 10 million screens this year alone. School boards and textbook publishers everywhere are feverishly planning for the imminent retirement and replacement of high-priced physical textbooks; tomorrow's students will simply have all the books they need for the next semester transmitted directly to their e-readers.

Computerworld has a lot more to say, and it’s here.