Amazon.com’s new Amazon Kindle DX may find a broader audience with
business customers due to a larger screen that makes it easier for
users to view newspapers and also to see the charts and graphs (the
device supports 16-level grayscale) that are so common in whitepapers.
Amazon.com introduced the Kindle DX today, calling it a “purpose-built
reading device.” Like its little brother the Kindle, DX offers a
wireless delivery system for purchasing books. However, the DX version
of the Kindle provides a 9.7-inch electronic paper display (compared to
Kindle’s 6-inch display) and a native PDF reader, along with a heftier
price — $489. That compares with the Kindle’s price tag of $359.
But business users may find it a convenient way of toting their reading
materials, from newspapers to magazines to books to whitepapers. The
New York Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe will be available on
the Kindle DX this summer at a reduced price to readers who live in
areas where home delivery is not available and who sign up for a
long-term subscription to the Kindle edition of the newspapers,
Amazon.com says.
Amazon is also targeting the textbook market with the Kindle DX and
will begin offering textbooks through the Kindle store starting this
summer from publishers such as Pearson, Wiley and Cengage Learning.
Several universities including Princeton, Arizona State and the
University of Virginia will make Kindle DX devices available to
students this fall.
The Kindle DX also offers a built-in PDF reader using Adobe Reader
Mobile technology. Users e-mail PDF-formatted documents to their Kindle
e-mail address, or move them over using a USB connection. The
device also features auto-rotation, letting users read in portrait or
landscape mode.
Kindle DX provides 3.3 GB of memory that can hold up to 3,500 books,
compared to 1,500 available on the Kindle. The current library
available for purchase to Kindle users includes more than 275,000
books, newspapers, magazines including The New Yorker and Time, plus
more than 1,500 blogs.
Amazon Associates receive a 10 percent commission on Kindle sales.