How Kindle Can Still Beat Nook

The latest Barnes & Noble Corner e-reader is getting a lot of confirming buzz, and permanently reason. IT's thin and light, has a touchscreen port that's easy to navigate, and is priced the cookie-cutter ($139, Wi-Fi) A Amazo

n's industry-directing Kindle.

PCWorld's Melissa Perenson gave the second-contemporaries Corner (the new one) four out of fivesome stars in her recent review, and Consumer Reports says Barnes & Noble's e-lecturer is even better than the Fire.

What's Amazon to practice? Well, in my role as armchair pontificator, I feel compelled to offer Amazon a trifle of unsolicited advice. Here are fivesome ways that Amazon can retrieve the agonistic edge in in the e-reader race.

1) Optional backlight: Barnes and Noble already offers a Nook with a color screen ($249), and recent reports advise Virago leave launch an iPad-trend color tablet later o this yr.

Just how about an e-Ink referee with a backlight that you can change by reversal on OR off? Kindle's E-paper screen is easier to read out-of-doors than a glossy backlit display–a fact Amazon stressed in a TV advertising last year–but it's nearly impossible to read in low-light environments. An optional backlight would be a capitalist advantage, even if it makes the Kindle a bit pricier than its competitors.

2) $99 damage: Yes, Kobo is already selling its Wireless eReader for $99.99, but that's a "while supplies last" hand for a closeout model.

The newer Kobo eReader Tinge Edition is $130, just ten bucks cheaper than a comparable Kindle or Nook. Amazon's next Kindle should wear the $100 barrier, an attractive price point that would pull more mainstream users to the platform. It's the classic printers-and-ink business model: Give 'em the hardware at cost, and make money on the content (ebooks, in this case).

3) Jazz band LCD/E-Ink display: The prizewinning of some worlds: A discolour LCD for Web browsing, gaming, Android apps, and new pad-like activities; and a spotted E-Ink display for reading e-books in sunshine. A Recent epoch report says Orchard apple tree may be working along exactly this case of hybrid display technology. Perhaps Amazon could beat Steve Jobs to market.

4) Better controls: Amazon River is passing to have to ditch the Kindle's energetic keyboard, which makes the e-proofreader look clunky and outdated, despite its advantages for intellectual note-takers. The latest Kobo and Corner readers have touchscreen keyboards.

5) Freehanded lending policies: The Kindle Lending Library arrives later this year. It wish allow customers to take over Kindle books from more than 11,000 U.S. libraries.

Amazon has yet to announce many specifics of the service, even so. What advantages could the Loaning Library provide that would give Amazon an advantage?

Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com and observe Today @ PCWorld on Twitter.