On November 19, 2007, Amazon released the first Kindle. It came in a book like case, and included a charger and a plain black faux leather cover. It had a unusual look that reminded me of something I might have seen on a TV show like Lost in Space or Space: 1999. The first Kindle cost $400 and they sold out immediately.
While people were waiting for the Kindles to come back into stock, there were numerous threads on the Kindle forums where customers would post when their order and expected delivery dates. This thread was started in December 2007. The camaraderie among the waiting customers was amazing. It was a very different forum then….
I bought mine in the second wave in the spring of 2008. I absolutely loved it! I cannot emphasize enough what a profound impact this device had on me.
Here’s a video that looks at the very first Kindle:
Here’s a snapshot of the Amazon homepage on November 19, 2007 (Via Internet Archive Wayback Machine):
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And the Kindle product page (the ASIN was B000FI73MA)
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And, yes, Amazon still sells them, albeit used. And, this version had a user-replaceable battery and they still sell those, too.
So, do you have a story to share on the Kindle’s birthday? Has it touched your life in any way?
