Amazon's New Kindle Brings Back Accessibility for the Blind
June 22 2016 - 6:00PM
Dow Jones News
Amazon Inc. announced a thinner, lighter entry-level Kindle
e-reader on Wednesday. Yet the biggest new feature turns out to be
the return of accessibility for blind readers.
In earlier days, Kindles had speakers, headphone jacks and
text-to-speech functionality that could help readers who have
trouble seeing text. But the fourth-generation Kindle Touch, which
came out in 2011, was the last of these. As Amazon ramped up its
LCD-screen Fire tablets, it removed audio features from the Kindle
e-reader line, making it inaccessible to blind users.
Amazon's new entry-level Kindle sells for $80 with ads, $100
without them. It has the same 6-inch e-ink touch screen as its
predecessor. (The screen doesn't light up like the step-up
Paperwhite.) Now, it comes with more random-access memory and
Bluetooth wireless technology, a first for Kindles.
Bluetooth is usually used for transmitting music or speech. In
this case, it reads the Kindle e-books aloud when connected to
Bluetooth headphones or speakers, such as Amazon's own Echo.
Amazon's VoiceView speech technology, which also reads
menu-navigation items and other interface functions, made its debut
in 2015 on Fire tablets.
Once again, blind people can shop for new Kindle e-readers.
"That's a step," says Chris Danielsen, director of communications
for the National Federation of the Blind. "But how big a step
depends on the execution."
While the National Federation of the Blind hasn't yet evaluated
the new Kindle, Mr. Danielsen says his organization is in regular
meetings with Amazon to improve accessibility in e-book reading,
particularly in education. Amazon's move comes ahead of the
organization's annual convention next week, where the company is a
sponsor and exhibitor.
An important question is how simple it will be for a blind
person to pair the Kindle to a Bluetooth audio device. Last month,
Amazon introduced an audio adapter, bundled at no extra cost with
the Kindle Paperwhite reader that automatically turns on VoiceView
when plugged into the reader's USB port.
"We would be much more thrilled with a single-gesture way of
setting it up, rather than a complicated set of instructions," Mr.
Danielsen says of the new Bluetooth Kindle.
Amazon says readers can enable VoiceView on any screen with one
gesture. "We've done a lot better job of making the out-of-box
experience better for customers that need accessibility features,"
an Amazon spokeswoman said.
While Amazon isn't the only e-book vendor option for blind
people, it has a majority share of the U.S. e-book market and a
proprietary file format. It has offered some form of accessibility
on other platforms including Fire tablets and iOS apps, but
returning text-to-speech to its cheapest e-reader means blind
customers may not have to pay a premium to access the company's
content, Mr. Danielsen says.
For readers in general, the updates in this Kindle (and most of
the latest ones, such as the premium Kindle Oasis are minor. At
this point, the Kindle has no significant e-ink competitors—just
tablets and phones, where people increasingly are doing their
reading. The additional RAM in the new Kindle is there to assist
the Bluetooth, though it will also speed up some functions, Amazon
says.
Aside from the sleeker body, there is one more significant
cosmetic development: The new Kindle—and its light-up sibling, the
Paperwhite—now comes in white.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 22, 2016 17:45 ET (21:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024