Orange Tests Read&Go Kindle Clone
By Nick Mokey
April 18, 2008
The French telecom company will begin beta testing on its own version of the Kindle in late May, carrying content from five major French newspapers and a handful of books.
It looks like Amazon’s popular Kindle reader is well on its way to spawning a range of imitators. Ectaco announced its jetBook last month, and now another clone has cropped up [PDF] from French cell service provider Orange. The Read&Go will mimic the Kindle’s e-ink design, but with only a limited selection of content while in beta testing.
The Read&Go will initially carry news from five French papers: Le Monde, Le Parisien, Les Echos, L’Equipe and Télérama. Thirty e-books will also be included, from serious literature to comic compilations.
Although Orange hasn’t revealed full tech specs on the Read&Go, it will use a combined 3G and Wi-Fi interface to fetch updated news from content providers every hour from 6 a.m. to midnight. Its data capacity of 1GB should allow it to store about 200 newspapers.
Orange will accept about 150 beta testers to use the Read&Go from late May into late June, and provide feedback. French speakers can find more information and apply to beta test at Orange’s Web site.