I was once told by a flight attendant that the actual reason they don't allow electronic devices during take-off and landing is because these times have the highest likelihood of incidents, and if their was an emergency, the flight crew, it is felt, need to be able to communicate effectively with passengers without needing to be heard over headphones or competing with games, etc.<p>I believe reading is felt to be less engaging than other forms of media, and therefore more easily interuptable.<p>I was on a domestic flight in Australia last week, and was surprised that my entire row kept reading their kindles through take-off and landing, and the flight attendants didn't say anything, even though the announcement of no electronic devices was still enforced.
The article implies that amazon somehow got the law changed, and therefore it only covers reading devices, not laptops etc. I dislike its tone. Before, no electronics of any kind. Now, reading devices. This is strictly progress[1], and we should be happy for all the progress we get. If Marco (or more plausibly, apple) was to start lobbying in a year or so to permit tablets, then being able to point to a year of kindle safe flying would be a good thing. It seems unlikely that amazon (who are in the tablet business as well) choose to somehow limit the change to only reading devices.<p>[1] Lets ignore the risk to flight safety caused by letting passengers use electronics. Because that risk is so small one needs the LHC to find it.