The Kindle Turns 5 Today, And It’s Come A Ridiculously Long Way

The Kindle Turns 5 Today, And It’s Come A Ridiculously Long Way


Today the Kindle turns five and it’s come a long, long way in that past half-decade. In case you don’t remember, in 2007 the first generation Kindle had an 800×600 screen, 250MB internal memory and was the only model to ever have a microSD slot. And it launched for the low, low price of $US400. Despite the price tag, the device was wildly popular, selling out in the first few hours, and remaining out of stock until April 2008.

Today, you can get a Kindle for as low as $US69, and the flagship is a mere $US119. In addition to evolving into more advanced (and way cheaper) devices, Kindles have almost single-handedly restructured the world of publishing during their five year life-span, for the better or for the worse, depending on who you ask. It kind of makes you wonder where the next five years will take it. Is there even that much to improve on at this point? Holographic e-ink? Motion control? We’ll have to wait and see, but in the meantime, happy birthday to a great little gadget. [Slashgear]


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