Kindle News: Kindle Touch with front light - Is it coming soon? State Dept requires it. What else do they require?

Ace commenter Felix Torres finds the answer to the subject question in the State Dept contract with Amazon for the up to $16.5 million educational project agreement.

In the blog entry yesterday for the Kindle contract story, I included a link to the State Department document justifying the no-bid contract.  I'd not read it though and then forgot about it.

The vigilant Felix Torres, in his comment today to Teleread.Com's story on this, addresses the mistaken idea by many writers that the contract was just for x number of Kindle Touch devices x 50 Kindle books for each.

He explains that you could just read the government specs and rationale to find what it does require:

' ...they need an *integrated* system for “push”-deployment of DoS in-house documents as well as licensed 3rd party commercial content, worldwide, via WiFi *and* 3G for in-the-field use.
Now, oh wise Amazon haters: who else can deliver those features today, at *all*?

Push deliver + 3G? “Hello? Bueller?” '

He adds that it's an election year and
  "Of course the thing was vetted to within an inch of the Contracting Officer’s life!  They have a need and they found an answer, they jumped through all legal hoops and signed the deal.  End of story.  Almost..."

Then he casually tosses in the key portion for those wondering if the Kindle Touch with built-in light is just another rumor.

' Oh, and by the way: lost in all the grumbling and Proxmiring is the real news: Amazon is going to ship Kindles with *front lights* to the State Department.

AKA, Kindle 6.

Not a rumor, not a hoax; it’s right there in the contract.'

Those contract requirements
The contract requirements section is #3 and it shows clearly what the Kindle Touch can do, as needed for this project, and the type of very complex, integrated services and support Amazon must be able to provide and, as Felix says, who else can?

One thing I just noticed is that "3G wireless costs must be not separately priced."

Re Service and Support:
Besides quite involved central management internationally, "the Contractor must be able to provide a dedicated 24/7 help desk to support inquires [sic]."

It's interesting to see that a 2-year warranty must be included with replacements for any device failures, [adding even] accidental danage, with free shipping both ways for damaged and replacement device.

Amazon must upgrade and phase in updated versions of the e-Reader product "at least every two years so that the technology stays up to date for users."

And here's the requirement that Felix noted and that will probably be of most interest -- under e-Reader Device subsection, the requirements itemized include this:

  The device must include a front light feature.

My bolded emphasis of course.

Bear in mind that even the most praising of reviews of the Nook Glowlight mention the lighter display contrast when the front-light technology used is included in an e-Ink device.  Some are bothered by it, some aren't, and there's no question that many will really like having a front light, no matter how uneven or somewhat lighter the text if one can read it in dimmer light without an external light.

I got the DX Graphite and Kindle 3 and then the Touch for the quality of that screen contrast after becoming frustrated with the lighter Kindle 2 contrast.  Am pretty sure I'd not want to give that up, since it's my biggest pleasure when switching to e-Ink reading.  But others will not care about darker font readability if the difference is not noticeable unless the devices are held side by side.

So, there it is. It's a reality. Thanks to Felix for the alert !

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US: Kindle Fire  7" tablet - $199 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $79/$109 Kindle Touch, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Touch, 3G/WiFi - $149/$189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189, Free, slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £89 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi, UK - £169 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $109 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

  For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by:    Publication Date      Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular The Kindle Daily Deal What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle Keyboard(U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

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-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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Kindle news: Amazon's contract with US State Dept for $16.5 million for Kindles, and why.

"Why is the U.S. State Department paying Amazon $16.5 million for Kindles?"

paidContent's Laura Hazard Owen reports that the U.S. State Dept signed a no-bid $16.5 million contract (anticipated value over the life of the contract -- one base year + 4 option years) with Amazon for Amazon Touches, starting with 2,500 of them, which will be preloaded with 50 titles each for the Department's overseas language-education programs.

Reasoning for the no-bid contract:

' In a document justifying the no-bid contract, the State Department says it’s identified “the Amazon Kindle as the only e-Reader on the market that meets the Government’s needs, and Amazon as the only company possessing the essential capabilities required by the Government.”  It has international 3G, text-to-speech features and a long battery life, which “other e-readers such as the Barnes and Noble Nook, the Sony Reader Daily and Kobe [sic] e-Reader cannot provide.” '

Well, the Nook can provide a long battery life, but it doesn't sell books internationally nor does it supply international 3G.  But then it doesn't supply domestic 3G either, anymore.  3G delivery of books was what initially made the Kindle E-Ink device so popular -- think about a book and then have it within 60 seconds.  B&N gave up on the 3G idea after trying it for awhile.

The overseas use made the international 3G "a firm requirement."  The Apple iPad wasn't chosen due to the additional features being unnecessary for educational use and bringing "unacceptable security and usability risks for the government's needs in this particular project."

  I can see why the iPad wouldn't be used for this when length of session battery life is so important.  They also mentioned that the iPad also falls short on "the centrally managed platform for registration and content delivery..."

See Owen's article for her puzzlement over why it would come to $16.5 million even over 5 years and her own thoughts as to other costs that would need to be paid beyond the cost of the Kindle Touch 3G and Kindle books for each one.  She cites operating and support costs (and Kindle owners know the relative merits of customer service among the e-reader companies).

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Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links

US: Kindle Fire  7" tablet - $199 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $79/$109 Kindle Touch, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Touch, 3G/WiFi - $149/$189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189, Free, slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £89 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi, UK - £169 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $109 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!