Orange Tests Read&Go Kindle Clone

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.