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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Tech / Teh Internets / Economy Amazon Seeks Help for Building Web-Browsing Kindle

Posted by Matt Hickey on Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 12:20 PM

Amazon is hiring. This in itself is fairly newsworthy; Amazon is one of the giant tech corporations that people locally use as a something of a barometer to see how the economy is doing jobs-wise. But one particular job listing stands out: SDE - Browser, a Software Development Engineer.

It's for Lab126, the division within Amazon responsible for the software on the Kindle. Currently the Kindle does have a Web browser but the general consensus is that it sucks. This job posting describes what sounds like is a position to help build a new, "innovative" Web browser for the device.

The browser would likely not be issued for the current generation of Kindles but be included withe the next edition, which is rumored to be announced later this year. This new Kindle is expected to have a full color touchscreen, as a few weeks ago Amazon bought New York-based Touchco, a company that makes multitouch full-color LCD screens. Touchco is being integrated in the Kindle hardware unit.

That, coupled what we know so far about Amazon's own Kindle app store initiative, means that Amazon is treating things like the Microsoft Courier and the iPad as real threats. The addition of a Web browser is a no-brainer, but what remains to be seen is how good it is. Safari on an iPhone (very similar to how it should hold up on an iPad) is surprisingly easy to use. And the new version of Internet Explorer Mobile is a vast improvement over it's predecessors. Amazon is going to be entering a crowded market here.

But, hey, it's a job. Anyone hiring anyone is good news right now. And with the way the mobile device wars are rapidly heating up we'd be surprised if this is the last one. It's going to be an interesting year, and we're making popcorn for it.

Comments (9) RSS

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Saying the Kindle's current browser sucks is like saying a bicycle with two flat tires sucks as a race car. Seriously: F-minus.

Posted by Fnarf

on March 10, 2010 at 12:41 PM

A touch screen would be nice. I would never buy one now with the stupid ass keyboard and screen from the 90's, but throw a color touchpad on there and I could easily see doing so. Though I'd put my price point at about 300. Much more and I could just buy a real slate computer.

Posted by giffy on March 10, 2010 at 12:48 PM

The Kindle's dead.

Just ask all the people at the Oscar parties who are now making deals to dev content for the iPad.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on March 10, 2010 at 1:23 PM

Amazon has lots and lots of jobs, just look at their web site. However 99% of the Jobs are programming jobs which only those from Bangalore know how to do.

Posted by Sargon Bighorn on March 10, 2010 at 1:38 PM

Stupid. If they try to play catch up with a different type of device, they WILL fail. Instead they should work on a really great kindle app for the iPad, better than Apple's built in reader with better prices and more selection. That way they don't have to foot the expense of creating an extra device or wireless plan, but can focus on making their dedicated readers the best damned dedicated readers out there, not the best web browsers, which they'll either fail at or succeed while making the reading experience crap.

The Kindle may be dead for people at Oscar parties who want to "dev content," whatever exactly that may mean, but it's still good at books, it's going to be better at books than the iPad, and I think these predictions are getting made before the device has even been put up for sale. Personally I'm no Microsoft fan but I think their folding tablet is way cooler than the iPad, but as a person who actually reads books--usually the kind with words, not pictures--it holds 0 appeal when we've got iPhones and laptops and netbooks and kindles. We just ordered our household's second DX. And maybe it'll be obsolete in a couple of years - I'd say I've already gotten enough use out of mine for that to be OK, and my husband expects to as well - but I really don't see books changing into some multimedia extravaganza without suffering in other ways. The iPad will draw in casual readers who maybe read what, 10 books a year?

It may succeed as a grandparent device in the way that webtv undoubtedly had a huge niche around tampa, but I can't see that crowd giving up their print books/newspaper anytime soon.

Posted by gember on March 10, 2010 at 2:24 PM

Look, most people really don't care what geeks want, they just want a device that works. And the content providers - people who depend on REVENUES for art, games, books, movies, music, etc - want something that works and that they get a proven cut for what they create.

Right now that's the iPad. The Kindle, even looked at kindly, just doesn't have the revenue numbers to support all the work needed to gen the content and prep it for the device.

The market doesn't care how good you are. It just cares about consumers and providers and the transactions needed to get the content from point A to point B. In a way that works. Easily.

You had your chance. You blew it.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on March 10, 2010 at 2:40 PM

@5, "whatever exactly that may mean" -- it means Will pretends he would recognize a clue if it was rapping on his forehead, but he wouldn't. Is the Kindle dead? Maybe, maybe not -- but Will knows nothing about it. "Revenue numbers"? Will doesn't know any. And he sure as hell doesn't know anything about how to "get the content from point A to point B", which is easier on the Kindle than on any device in history, and will continue to be so after the iPad is released -- unless you pay thousands of dollars for 3G service, in which case you're no longer comparing apples to apples anymore.

Seriously, Will: go away. You're harming the level of understanding in this thread every time you post.

Posted by Fnarf

on March 10, 2010 at 3:34 PM