The First Kindle — Electronic Paper and Whispernet

The Kindle is Amazon's e-book reader. The first one was announced on 19 November 2007 and went on sale the same day on amazon.com in the US for $399. Announcement and release fell on the same day, and at first it was a US-only product. Japan's Kindle Store opened five years later, on 25 October 2012.

Two things defined the first Kindle: an electronic-paper screen with no backlight, and Whispernet, a wireless delivery system that downloaded books straight to the device with no PC involved.

Specifications and price of the first Kindle

Amazon described electronic paper as working with ink, like books and newspapers, but displaying the ink particles electronically. With no backlight, it was sold as readable even in bright sunlight.

Whispernet: no PC, no Wi-Fi

The first Kindle's Whispernet used the same nationwide high-speed data network as advanced cell phones (EVDO), so you could browse the Kindle Store and receive a book on the spot, with no PC, no Wi-Fi hot spot and no syncing. Amazon said a book downloaded in less than a minute.

Amazon paid for the wireless connection. There was no monthly bill, data plan or service commitment for the customer: the cost of connectivity was folded into the price of the device and the books.

What the device could do

Full-length page-turn buttons ran down both sides of the device so that left- and right-handed readers could hold it and turn pages with one hand. Amazon also stressed that the Kindle arrived ready to use, with no software to load or set up.

In the same announcement Amazon launched the Digital Text Platform (DTP), a self-publishing tool that let publishers and authors upload their own books and sell them in the Kindle Store. Alongside the device and the shop, Amazon opened a way in for the books themselves.

What books and subscriptions cost

Newspapers, magazines and blogs came with a free two-week trial.

In the announcement Jeff Bezos said Amazon had been working on Kindle for more than three years, and added: "Our top design objective was for Kindle to disappear in your hands -- to get out of the way -- so you can enjoy your reading." He also said that whether lying in bed or riding a train, you could think of a book and have it in less than 60 seconds.

Japan in 2012

Amazon.co.jp announced the Japanese Kindle Store on 24 October 2012, and it opened the next day, 25 October, with more than 50,000 Japanese e-books.

At the same time, pre-orders opened for the Kindle Paperwhite, the first Kindle to support Japanese. The Wi-Fi model cost 8,480 yen (7,980 yen from 8 November) and the Wi-Fi + 3G model 12,980 yen; both shipped on 19 November. In Japan, then, the Kindle story begins five years after the original, with a generation that had a light built into the screen.

Later Kindles

Amazon described the Paperwhite's patented front light as guiding light underneath an anti-glare layer and down toward the display. Five years after a first model sold on having no backlight, electronic paper could be read in the dark.

Where it sits

The first Kindle launched three things together as one product: a dedicated electronic-paper reader, wireless delivery with the connection paid for, and a bookshop with $9.99 best sellers. Amazon sold both the device and the books bought on it. After the iPad arrived in 2010 as a general-purpose tablet, the Kindle carried on as a device for reading. For devices more broadly see the hardware timeline; for the company, Amazon.