The Amazon Kindle, Fourth generation was unleashed on September 28th 2011. After the success of previous Amazon Kindle’s such as the Kindle Keyboard, released in 2010, the newest addition to the Kindle family fit perfectly into the media market. 
Amazon.com Inc is a multinational electronic commerce company founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994. It allows users to buy and sell a variation of products including electronic items such as Ipods, Televisions and Gaming Consoles.
The Amazon Kindle as a whole, enables users to download books, newspapers, magazines, blogs and other digital media via both Wifi and now 3G connection. In conjunction with this statement, the Kindle in many ways, has infinite uses which relate to products being sold on the Amazon website. It incorporates books, electronic devices such as Ipods and also Laptops, as the Kindle allows audiences to browse the Internet and the Amazon website to search for books. In terms of market, the Kindle enables users to take a step forward in terms of new media, changing the way we as a society read books. Users can download books on the go with either Wifi or 3G connection, allowing them to retrieve a book in just 60 seconds.
Amazon advertised the Fourth generation Kindle as being lighter, more compact than ever; which is undoubtedly something that particularly attracts it’s target audience. The slim and sleek design of the Fourth generation Kindle weighs just 170 grams, which is lighter than a paperback and fits into your pocket. Such specifications portray the way in which new media corporations must always be one step ahead of each other, wanting their new product to be far more advanced and accessible than others. This can be related to Cultural Obsolescence, the idea of accelerated culture and the way we as a society are trying to keep up with it.
Politically, many see the Kindle as an advanced way of helping society become more educated. A study was completed by Thorndike Press™ that suggests when enhanced fonts are used for children their comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary development are far higher. The Fourth generation Kindle allows for comfortable reading as users can adjust between eight different text sizes and three font styles. Not only this, but some may say that by creating a way of reading that includes technology, it entices audiences due to it’s accessibility. The Amazon website allures students, teachers and schools by having low price content on books such as Pride and Prejudice and out-of-copyright classics for free. In addition, the Kindle allows us to create references, digital notes and highlight parts of the text, allowing for a far more educational way of reading for both younger and older audiences. The fact that the Kindle is simply a gadget can attract younger users, allowing them to take part in Consumerism, relating to societies need to buy new things.
Politically, many see the Kindle as an advanced way of helping society become more educated. A study was completed by Thorndike Press™ that suggests when enhanced fonts are used for children their comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary development are far higher. The Fourth generation Kindle allows for comfortable reading as users can adjust between eight different text sizes and three font styles. Not only this, but some may say that by creating a way of reading that includes technology, it entices audiences due to it’s accessibility. The Amazon website allures students, teachers and schools by having low price content on books such as Pride and Prejudice and out-of-copyright classics for free. In addition, the Kindle allows us to create references, digital notes and highlight parts of the text, allowing for a far more educational way of reading for both younger and older audiences. The fact that the Kindle is simply a gadget can attract younger users, allowing them to take part in Consumerism, relating to societies need to buy new things.
Many people read books as a way of escaping from every day life, allowing them to be someone else for a specific amount of time. The Kindle does a similar thing for audiences, yet allows for a far more technological experience, including specifications as the Kindle’s One Month battery life and the way you can keep a library of up to 1,400 books wherever you go. Relating to the Uses and Gratifications theory, the Kindle allows for escapism, so audiences can escape from their normal life wherever they are, being able to download a different genre of book within 60 seconds.
Last month, Amazon announced that in the US they sold more e-books in the last 3 months of 2010 than they did paperbacks. These statistics can portray how new media products are slowly but surely taking over some forms of old media and it seems this is only the beginning of the new media wave.
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