Amazon Launches Kindle DX
By Jim Milliot and Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 5/6/2009 8:33:00 AM
Amazon introduced the third edition of its Kindle this morning, a version that, in addition to offering trade books, will now display textbooks, computer books and cookbooks on a 9.7 inch electronic display screen that includes 16 shades of grade—the same gray-scale as the Kindle 2. Magazines and newspapers, already available on the Kindle, will increase their presence on the new device. Price for Kindle DX is $489 and Amazon will start shipping the device in the summer.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was present at the press conference at Pace University in lower Manhattan to unveil the Kindle DX, which is essentially a larger, enhanced version of the Kindle 2. Bezos quicky reviewed the commercial history of the Kindle beginning with the growth in titles available—90,000 titles in 2007 up to 275,000 today. “We have what people want to read,” he said noting as well the low battery consumption, nonbacklit e-ink screen, no computer needed and most importantly, 24-7 wireless connectivity on a cell phone network—“no need to run looking for hot spots,” said.
Amazon hopes the larger screen and improved display will entice students to use Kindle DX and Cengage, Pearson, and John Wiley have agreed to make textbooks available through Kindle DX. Arizona State, Case Western Reserve, Princeton, Reed College, Pace—unannounced at the press conference—and Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia will launch trial programs this fall in which they will distribute Kindle DX to students across a range of subjects. "We look forward to seeing how the device affects the participation of both students and faculty in the educational experience," said Barbara Snyder, president of Case Western.
The controversial text to speech function will be enabled on the Kindle DX. According to Laura Porco, director of Kindle books, the university pilot program will have “hundreds to thousands” of students and include “hundreds to thousands” of textbooks. Textbook prices, she said, will be unchanged. Geoffrey Brackett, provost for academic affairs at Pace, said Pace would have about 50 students in “discreet sections of coursework” included in the pilot. And while he suggested that Pace would likely subsidize the price of the devices to some extent, he said students would likely pay for the textbooks. But he emphasized that the details of the pilot arrangement were still being negotiated. “We think this will be highly useful and efficient for students,” he said.
To induce newspaper readers to use Kindle DX, Amazon is teaming with The New York Times (Times publisher A. O. Sulzberger Jr. was at the press conference), the Boston Globe and Washington Post in a program that will let would-be subscribers who live in areas where there is no home delivery to buy the Kindle DX at a reduced price if they agree to subscribe to a long-term subscription to the paper via the Kindle DX.
