Kindle's identity crisis

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Sumi Das: Hello, I'm Sumi Das for ZDNet, here with our senior editor, Sam Diaz. Sam, thank you for being with us.

Sam Diaz: Sure. Thank you for having me.

Sumi Das: So Amazon has introduced the lasted version of their electronic reader, the Kindle. This is version 2.0. Tell us how it improves upon the original. At least, it should improve upon the original, right?

Sam Diaz: Well, let's just talk the specs right out of the gate here, the technical specs. So a better screen, more internal memory, although they did take out the ability to add flash memory, like and SD card. So they did take that out. They've redesigned the buttons, the navigationers, so it's supposed to be a little bit easier to navigate through and use those buttons so you're not accidentally pushing stuff. And --

Sumi Das: I had a problem with that because you'd hit the page turn button accidentally because that's where you naturally want to hold it.

Sam Diaz: Right. On thing that didn't change was the price.

Sumi Das: Mm-hmm. So it's still about 300 bucks?

Sam Diaz: $359.00 to be exact.

Sumi Das: That's a lot of money.

Sam Diaz: It is a lot of money, and given what's happened with consumer spending, with the economy overall, it really feels overpriced.

Sumi Das: Why didn't they drop the price?

Sam Diaz: Well, you know, that's an interesting question. Some of the critics out there who really had expected the price to come down are really criticizing Amazon for really holding onto the device itself. Now, you look at the Apple model, where they build both the software and the hardware. The critics out there are saying maybe Amazon should have outsourced this to, you know, manufacturers who are already making mobile devices. They could have done some really cool stuff with it, you know? Color screen, touchscreen, different sort of buttons and navigation, all sort of different features they could have done for something like this, but instead Amazon's holding onto that.

Sumi Das: So what's Amazon's goal with this device? Are they trying to create a good electronic reader or a good mobile device?

Sam Diaz: Well, that is a big question, actually, because people are debating this.

Sumi Das: Mobile computer.

Sam Diaz: Yeah. People are debating this, you know. For $359.00, is this a book or is it a computer? Personally, I think it should be a computer. I think it should have a Wi-Fi chip in it. I think I should be able to do a bunch of different things with it. I mean, really, when you compare it to other devices out there, especially --

Sumi Das: That may cost less.

Sam Diaz: That may cost less than $359.00. You know, you look at the iPod Touch, the iPhone, all the apps that go with it.

Sumi Das: And have greater capabilities.

Sam Diaz: That's right. I mean, you know, just the sort of touchscreen, and to be able to slide your finger across the screen, those sort of things are really attractive. I don't know that -- I mean the Kindle -- the Kindle seems like a great product, but really, I think it just needs to do more.

Sumi Das: Okay. All right. So maybe they'll fix all of these issues in version three.

Sam Diaz: I think version three may just be an iPhone app.

Sumi Das: All right. We'll have to wait and see.

Sam Diaz: All right.

Sumi Das: Sam, thank you so much.

Sam Diaz: Sure. Thank you.

Sumi Das: For more on the latest version of the Amazon Kindle, and anything else happening in the tech world, head to blogs.zdnet.com.

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