Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has updated the specs for its popular Kindle eReader to reflect a battery life of "two months," doubling the number from one month--and setting off a firestorm as a result. With no actual changes in its hardware, Amazon's action was a direct reaction to Barnes & Noble's new Nook, which was launched earlier in the week. B&N had touted its newly launched Simple Touch Reader as having the "longest battery life of any eReader," making Kindle's one-month battery life pale in comparison.

CNET spoke to Michael Serbinis, who is the CEO of Kobo (which has also announced its new Kobo eReader Touch Edition), about the issue of battery life. Serbinis observed that Kobo's new eReader--its battery life currently listed as "up to 2 weeks"--would fare almost as well if the numbers were calculated the way B&N does theirs. He put it this way: "If you kept the wireless off and only read for 30 minutes a day, you'd get close to two months of battery life with Kobo's new e-reader, too. But that's not a typical usage scenario."

In Barnes & Noble's defense, Jamie Iannone, president of the digital products unit, contended that side-by-side comparison of the new Nook and the Kindle, using a page-turn rate of one page per minute, saw the Nook lasting 150 hours, almost three times the Kindle's 56 hours. My question is: One month or two months--does it truly matter?

For more:
- check out this article at CNET Reviews
- check out this article at The Wall Street Journal

Related Articles:
Apple eyeing a cut of Amazon, Sony eBook sales
eBook readers struggle to stay relevant
Barnes and Noble introduces paperback-sized Nook
$25 discount is not enough for Kindle ads
Amazon to Launch Library Lending for Kindle Books