I think people miss the point with the subscription charges - this is basically to cover the wireless cellular access, but I think it's fairer - if you don't download any new books you pay nothing. don't want the NYT, doesn't cost you anything.

how many people have monthly payments on the cell/mobile phone and have to "use them or lose them"?

the nice thing about kindle is that prices are well understood, it's not a confusopoly (ask Scott Adams) which cell/mobile phones are based on, you want the book, you get it.

as for using the kindle as a gateway for another device to access the net, I am sure that the data contract Amazon signed specifically ensures you can only access the Amazon site, they do all the RSS aggregation and reformatting onto their device, hence they also give you an email address and thus ensure you device is kept safely in a "walled garden".

having said all that, I would be very interested in a Kindle in the UK if it were cheaper and I could hack it so I could use it as a more general purpose device.

--edit-- at least according to earlier reports, the kindle runs linux:
"screen is 600x800 with a six-inch diagonal, and uses the same E Ink technology as Sony's Reader. The Kindle comes with 256 MB of RAM, and the Linux-based operating system leaves 180MB of that for user content"
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...ok-market.html