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New Kindle hoped to save ailing newspaper business

Amazon.com has fielded a very successful product of its own making in its line of Kindle e-readers. The current crop of Kindle devices are aimed at users who like to read novels. The newspaper industry is hoping that larger screen readers could hold the key to the survival of print papers and magazines.

DailyTech reported yesterday that rumors were circulating that Amazon would be launching a new, larger screen Kindle this week. Engadget reports that the new large screen Kindle is set for launch tomorrow and will boast a 9.7-inch screen, nearly four inches larger than the screen on the current reader.

The new Kindle is also said to support PDFs which users have been wanting for a long time. The New York Times is going to be one of the early newspapers offering digital subscriptions on the device with the price tag reportedly at $9.95 per month.

The Kindle is going to support text books as well and according to Engadget the device will be issued to students at some colleges including Case Western Reserve University, Pace, Princeton, Reed, Arizona State and Darden School at the University of Virginia rather than text books.

The large screen Kindle is also reported use a more functional web browser. Exactly what that means is unknown, but if Amazon throws in some web surfing along with the free 3G connectivity the new Kindle will certainly rock the e-reader boat. Whether or not a larger screen reader proves to be the savior that newspapers are hoping for remains to be seen.

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And the most important question...
By mcnabney on 5/5/2009 1:38:09 PM , Rating: 2
Price. The Kindle 2 thinks that it is iPhone's big brother price-wise. Will this land around $500-600, the cost of a decent laptop. And can you get your own content on it, or does it only display 'official' content streamed to it. I imagine that PDF support must mean there is some local storage provided and that there must be a way to fill it.




RE: And the most important question...
By acer905 on 5/5/2009 1:56:34 PM , Rating: 4
Most likely it will follow the same style as the current one. "Personal Documents

Kindle makes it easy to take your personal documents with you, eliminating the need to print. Each Kindle has a unique and customizable e-mail address. You can set your unique email address on your Manage Your Kindle page. This allows you and your approved contacts to e-mail Word, PDF documents, and pictures wirelessly to your Kindle for a small per document delivery fee--see details. Kindle supports wireless delivery of unprotected Microsoft Word, PDF, HTML, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PRC and MOBI files.

In addition to the existing experimental support of PDF, you can also send DOCX files for conversion. Some complex PDF and DOCX files might not format correctly on your Kindle.

If you would like to download your personal documents for free, or if you are not in a wireless area, you can send attachments to "name"@free.kindle.com to be converted and e-mailed to your computer at the e-mail address associated with your Amazon.com account login. You can then transfer the document to your Kindle using your USB connection. For example, if your Kindle email address is Jay@Kindle.com, send your attachments to Jay@free.kindle.com"

Also, it will probably still include the unlimited free access to wikipedia: "Wireless Access to Wikipedia

Kindle also includes free built-in access to the world's most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopedia--Wikipedia.org. With Kindle in hand, looking up people, places, events, and more has never been easier. It gives whole new meaning to the phrase walking encyclopedia," which has been making me consider getting one


RE: And the most important question...
By KashGarinn on 5/6/2009 6:57:30 AM , Rating: 2
Give me facebook as well, and they'll laugh all the way to the bank.


By Cypherdude1 on 5/6/2009 9:07:33 PM , Rating: 2
UPDATE FOR AMAZON'S NEW $489 KINDLE DX:
 This is their product page:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015TCML0

I called Amazon's Kindle tech support number (see below). They told me their Kindle 2's battery has a life of 5 years and it must be sent in to replace it. The cost for the Kindle 2 is $60. They don't have a price for the Kindle DX battery replacement yet. As Amazon's Kindle 2 and DX become more accepted, expect their battery replacement price to increase.

KINDLE SUPPORT WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport

KINDLE SUPPORT PHONE NUMBERS:
If you are calling from inside the U.S., call toll free:
1-866-321-8851
If you are calling from outside the US, call:
1-206-266-0927

Kindle DX User's Guide:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/kindle/KindleDX_Users_Guid...

They also said you cannot place Amazon's eBooks on a laptop. The Kindle 2 and DX do not have a SD card slot. Frankly, I think Amazon's Kindle line is way overpriced. I'd much rather buy a $600 laptop with a 250 GB hard drive and put eBooks on that instead. I believe Barnes and Noble has, or will have, this:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/help/ebooks.asp?

Amazon's Kindle DX, because it's so expensive, strikes me as a toy for the upper-class. Because of its attributes, no user-replaceable battery, no SD slot, eye popping high price, it seems more for people with a lot of disposable income. I think Amazon's CEO, Jeffrey Bezos, thought up most of the Kindle DX's specifications. Jeffrey Bezos is a billionaire.


RE: And the most important question...
By Spivonious on 5/5/2009 1:59:11 PM , Rating: 3
However, if textbooks start being released on this, I could easily see every single college student buying one. $600 is one semester of science/engineering texts. If I was still in school I'd pay the premium to not have to lug around all of those books.


By FITCamaro on 5/5/2009 2:43:00 PM , Rating: 3
I would have bought one as well. Personally thats where I think textbooks should have gone long ago.


RE: And the most important question...
By Suomynona on 5/5/2009 2:47:28 PM , Rating: 2
$600 is on the high side of a semester's textbooks, assuming you don't buy used and don't have any friends who can lend books. Also, e-textbooks are bound to command a premium over the relatively cheap novels that Amazon normally sells for the Kindle. I would guess that e-textbooks would be $50 at least.

You could still justify the cost over the course of several semesters, especially with the benefit of not having to carry around a bunch of heavy textbooks, but I doubt it will end up being such a no-brainer with whatever cost structure it ends up with.


By JarredWalton on 5/5/2009 7:01:42 PM , Rating: 2
Actually, my biggest question isn't price: it's availability of used books and such. I can go to a library for free and get just about any book I want. If I want to buy a book, Amazon and other places sell them for a lot less money than new books - and less money than Kindle books as well. The cost of books on Kindle is still too high IMO; maybe half the cost of a print book, but you can't resell it to a fried, can you? If I buy and read a good book, you can bet the first place it's going is to a friend or family member with my recommendation.


By Smilin on 5/5/2009 2:11:02 PM , Rating: 2
Geez McNabney.. do a *little* bit of research dude.


By Cypherdude1 on 5/6/2009 2:05:13 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Price. The Kindle 2 thinks that it is iPhone's big brother price-wise. Will this land around $500-600, the cost of a decent laptop. And can you get your own content on it, or does it only display 'official' content streamed to it.

As I mentioned before, for regular sized nonfiction books, the present 6" Kindle 2 is far too small. It's good that they're creating one with a larger screen. However, the Kindle 2 does not have a user-replaceable battery or an extra SD memory slot. For $600, it is far more advantageous to simply buy a full-powered laptop. Why would you want to spend that much on a Kindle 2 with a nonreplaceable battery, essentially a very expensive $600 disposable screen? No way.

BTW, I still have books from my college days. I'd rather have the temporary inconvenience of carrying around books in my backpack so I can keep the books for reading years later. While Amazon doesn't want to admit it, the real purpose of using a "Kindle" rather than a simple laptop is proprietary content. Amazon and the book publishers don't want to have the same nightmarish problem as the RIAA and MPAA. They'd rather force you to waste $350-600 on a disposable Kindle than allow you to place their content on a laptop's hard drive. ;^)


Kindle DX
By jaykitsap on 5/5/2009 2:47:28 PM , Rating: 2
It seems that people always bitch the Kindle costs so much. Well at like $370 it is a good bit, but do you ever total up the monthly cost for access. @ $24.99 a month, (cheaper than I have ever gotten a cell phone or internet connection) that is $300 a year. The Kindle does not have a monthly charge, part of the purchase price covers the access.

It's battery life is excellent, it is more secure for the publishers (less piracy) and you can read it in direct sunlight. There are a lot of places I can't use my laptop or cell because it is too bright.

It certainly isn't for everyone, but for a non-techie it is a real snap to use.




RE: Kindle DX
By ipay on 5/5/2009 4:02:37 PM , Rating: 4
quote:
it is more secure for the publishers (less piracy)


Yeah, because book publishers are being crippled by piracy just like the music and motion picture industries.

Oh wait.


By nafhan on 5/5/2009 2:40:58 PM , Rating: 2
It seems like you'd really have to like the NY Times for it to be worth $10 a month. There will be similar content available on the Kindle for free via the built in browser. Isn't the NY Times website free (with signup)? Not sure since I don't use it and can't get to it from work.
Large screen Kindle sounds awesome. Electronic newspaper subscriptions sounds silly.




By ksherman on 5/5/2009 5:07:25 PM , Rating: 2
The built in browser is only so so. The subscription based newspapers however operate much more smoothly. I have a subscription to the Chicago Tribune and it is great.


Expensive... But 10.2" Screen
By acer905 on 5/5/2009 1:42:10 PM , Rating: 1
http://www.irextechnologies.com/
http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/IRex_Digital_Reade...

No cellular connection, but wifi and bluetooth, and Wacom Penabled touch screen




By Imaginer on 5/5/2009 2:15:17 PM , Rating: 2
It is nice and all but what makes the Kindle stand out IS the free cellular access with no worries of finding a wifi hotspot. It just doesn't work in those city internet cafes but everywhere your phone does.

Sure some of the hard specs and techs are better than the Kindle but when will people stop trying to compare things based on "numbers" alone? It is how Kindle implemented said concepts and techs is what makes it stand out, and it doesn't hurt that it is backed by a solid delivery mechanism.


Nice, but how much?
By Bremen7000 on 5/5/2009 1:40:08 PM , Rating: 2
People might pay $10/mo for a newspaper subscription if they throw in that Kindle for free. I heard it'd be cheaper for them to do that than to distribute via print, anyway. :)




Book rentals
By DigitalFreak on 5/5/2009 3:33:22 PM , Rating: 2
Wake me up when you can rent books on Kindle.




color
By Silver2k7 on 5/5/2009 8:30:21 PM , Rating: 2
will this the screen on this device be in color?

if its going after newspapers and magazines, then color is a must imho.




Wow, $600 Swindle
By aguilpa1 on 5/5/09, Rating: -1
"If you look at the last five years, if you look at what major innovations have occurred in computing technology, every single one of them came from AMD. Not a single innovation came from Intel." -- AMD CEO Hector Ruiz in 2007

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