I know I haven’t posted for awhile – been busy with another big project (PLEASE check out and like this Facebook page, if you can – http://on.fb.me/sentigo). But here’s some REALLY big news: The device that arguably started the modern tablet revolution – the Kindle – is largely the result of Israeli technology!

Not very well known until now, I heard about this from some friends of mine who work(ed) at Sun Israel, now owned by Oracle. After nearly 8 months of efforts, requests, permissions, etc., I got an opportunity to interview the team at Oracle Israel responsible for the implementation of Java that makes the Kindle go. It’s a very cool story, one that you will be able to can read in whole at the Israel21c site.

Basically, Java had to be adjusted significantly to accommodate the Kindle’s needs, and it proves the versatility of Java as a platform, as far as Oracle/Sun are concerned. But for the rest of us, the big news is that the most revolutionary (non-Apple) device of the past few years – and, probably, the device that pushed Apple to speed up development of the iPad, which led to the tablet revolution now unfolding – is a made in Israel innovation! And, I am VERY proud to have been the one to break the story (thanks Eddie and Gordon!).

Kind of brings a tear to the eye – I will never look at the Kindle the same again!

Related articles

• New Amazon Kindle Sells “Millions” (inquisitr.com)
• Apple Backs Java Under Oracle (informationweek.com)
• Amazon: ‘Millions’ of Kindles sold this quarter (news.cnet.com)
• Oracle VP: “We have a strategy to run Java inside a Javascript environment” (cemerick.com)
• Big News: Big Chunk of Amazon’s Kindle Was Made in Israel! (israeltech.net)

One of the more popular subjects on this blog ever since I first wrote about it has been “Kindle for Israel – yea or nay?” Until now, it’s been a big NAY; you had to buy your Kindle in the U.S., and have an American credit card to download content with.

Until now. Not that they are going to be shipping Kindles to Israel anytime soon, but if you have a PC, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry, or iPad, you’re welcome to install the Kindle App on your device, and download hundreds of thousands of books from the Kindle library!

Following up on a tip I got from a reader (thanks Yossi!), I revisited the Kindle page on Amazon. As before, Kindles were not available to be shipped to Israel. But there was a change; now, you can download content from the Kindle store to your computer or other device which uses a Kindle application. It’s even possible (pretty likely, I would even say) that if you had a Kindle in hand, you could just connect to a wifi network here in Israel and download any book you were willing to pay for!

According to the Kindle page at Amazon, Israelis can now access over 400,000 of the 600,000 plus books available in the Kindle store. I installed the Kindle app on my new iPad, and began downloading content (they have hundreds of free books, and I actually bought one, too). Worked perfectly!

Which is a pretty good thing. In the past, any attempt to download a book from Amazon in Israel resulted in a block, with a message display saying that the content I was after could not be downloaded outside the U.S. Note that I have my credit card on file with Amazon, and I routinely order things from them for shipment to addresses in the U.S. with my Israeli credit card (in that, Amazon is much more liberal than the vast majority of retail websites, which ban any non-U.S. credit cards). Not this time, though; just clicking on a title (and in the case of books that cost money, clicking on the “one click payment” option) resulted in my Kindle (app) getting updated with the new selection. Nice!

Clearly Amazon is flexing its digital muscles; it never made sense for them not to be selling e-books in Israel, where there are so many English speakers and readers. In the past,, Amazon was prevented from selling in Israel due to rights issues with the importers of books who had exclusive import deals with publishers (happily, you see the term “sole importer” less and less often here these days). Knowing the stubbornness of these “sole importers,” my guess is that Amazon put its foot down, opened up the content to Israelis, and told the big bookstore chain with the import rights to many of these books to take a hike. About time! We may not have many good English language bookstores here in Israel, but with the Kindle/Kindle apps and the Kindle bookstore, we don’t need ‘em anymore!

(And yes, I know it’s been awhile since I posted!)

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