Amazon’s Kindle carried the internal development codename Fiona.
The project began after Jeff Bezos directed Amazon employees in 2004 to create what he described as the world’s best electronic reader. Development was handled by Lab126, Amazon’s hardware research group in California. The team worked on an e-reader built around electronic ink, a display technology designed to resemble paper and remain readable without the glare associated with conventional backlit screens.
Gregg Zehr, who led the Kindle hardware effort, gave the device the codename Fiona. The name referred to a character in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science-fiction novel The Diamond Age, a story featuring an advanced interactive book. That literary connection fit a device intended to make digital reading feel more like owning a personal book.
Amazon ultimately chose “Kindle” as the public brand. Branding consultants Michael Cronan and Karin Hibma proposed the word because it means to start a fire, suggesting both intellectual excitement and the beginning of an idea. The first Kindle launched on November 19, 2007, priced at $399 with included wireless connectivity.