Discourag
ing info re Kindle. Read on:
From: Greg Kearney <gkearney@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2011 09:34:17 +0800
This really isn't a matter of suggestions Amazon has been turning off accessibility at the demand of the Author's Guild in the United States. They have made a deliberate decision to do this. Books used to be some what accessible, the Kindle interface has never had full accessibly like the iPad does, are now not accessible at all.
The Author's Guild got what they wanted and never had to even go to court to get it. The odd thing in all of this is that Apple's iBooks product is fully accessible and the Author's Guild never said word one about it. My bet is that that Apple called their bluff and told them they would see them in court over it and the Author's Guild back down.
In any event Amazon has proven by their acts and by their words to have little interest in this matter. They say that they will fix it yet every product they release has less and less accessibility in it and they turn off what little they do have. What conclusions ware we supposed to be reaching given their actions thus far?
Gregory Kearney | Manager Accessible Media
Association for the Blind of WA - Guide Dogs WA
PO Box 101, Victoria Park WA 6979 | 61 Kitchener Ave, Victoria Park WA 6100
Tel: 08 9311 8246 | Fax: 08 9361 8696 | www.guidedogswa.com.au
Tel: 307-224-4022 (North America)
Email: greg.kearney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Email: gkearney@xxxxxxxxx
No it is not accessible. It is as it Amazon has go out of it's way to make their products inaccessible. In the case of Mac and the iOS it is quite literally true that you have to say to yourself as a developer, "how do I deactivate the built in accessibility".
- I spoke with an Amazon employee who told me there is no interest in accessibility at Amazon as the market is seen as too small and not worth the trouble they encountered with the Author's Guild in the United States. We should not expect any effort by Amazon in the future to address the issue of accessibility. So unless someone in the U.S can figure out how to make devices and services fall under the ADA my guess would be that they will never address this issue. Even if that mean walking away from the U.S. education market.
- If you want an accessible book reader your best
bet is an iPad, iPhone or a dedicated DAISY device it would seem.
- Gregory Kearney | Manager Accessible Media
- Association for the Blind of WA - Guide Dogs WA
- PO Box 101, Victoria Park WA 6979 | 61 Kitchener Ave, Victoria Park WA 6100
- Tel: 08 9311 8246 | Fax: 08 9361 8696 | www.guidedogswa.com.au
- Tel: 307-224-4022 (North America)
- Email: greg.kearney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Email: gkearney@xxxxxxxxx
