From the FAQ: "Will KF8 capabilities be available on all Kindle devices? A: Kindle Fire is the first Kindle device to support KF8 - in the coming months we will roll out KF8 to our latest generation Kindle e-ink devices as well as our free Kindle reading apps."
This implies that older Kindles won't get support for this. If that's true, Amazon's going to either get a bunch of pissed-off users or a shiny new format that nobody uses.
Part of what I love about the Kindle is that it's previously given off an aura of being above the "gotta update to the new model!" consumer frenzy that other portable electronics embody.
Q: Will I have to provide two versions of my titles going forward?
A: No. The upcoming updates to our Kindle Publishing Tools will take care of this for you. KindleGen 2 will convert your content so that it works on all Kindle devices and apps.
This would seem to imply that their tools will "cross-compile" to the older mobi format.
I think the biggest leap for Kindle was the Kindle 3 (aka "Keyboard Kindle"). If they support that, they should be fine. As far as I understand, the newer Kindles (touch, non-keyboard) use the same software and processor as the Kindle 3, so there is nothing preventing them from supporting it.
Besides, Kindle can render full blown websites and PDFs in its "experimental" browser, so some formatting enhancements in the Mobi parser should not be too much of a problem.
Older-Kindle users may be pissed off, but most of them have enough invested in the platform that hey aren't going anywhere. And the cheaper Kindle Basic (which should support the new format) is at least an olive branch on this front.
For Amazon, the more important thing to do is to address users of the reading apps, since those are the users who can more easily switch to an alternative (even if only for new purchases). And they're doing that.
When Sony dumped its BroadBand eBook (BBeB) format, it transparently replaced books in that format with ePub for everyone who bought books in that other format. I think Amazon will do the same as books are moved to the new format. As Amazon keeps saying, your books exist on your bookshelf and can be re-downloaded any time. No big deal to switch the formats. For those with older Kindles, they could warn them the new format won't work. Since every Kindle has to be registered with Amazon, they know who has which generation of device.
I'm confused. Why would existing users be pissed? Their existing Kindles aren't going to stop working, new books will still be available for them, they just won't have some of the shiny new features, some of which may be of questionable value on their e-ink readers anyway.
This implies that older Kindles won't get support for this. If that's true, Amazon's going to either get a bunch of pissed-off users or a shiny new format that nobody uses.
Part of what I love about the Kindle is that it's previously given off an aura of being above the "gotta update to the new model!" consumer frenzy that other portable electronics embody.