A blurry photo of what appears to be a dry run of tomorrow's presentation.
(Credit: Engadget)Here's the latest on Amazon's new, larger Kindle, which is expected to be announced Wednesday morning at Pace University in Manhattan, according to numerous sources.
- Thanks to an apparently surreptitious cameraphone photographer, Engadget has posted some blurry photos of what looks to be the dry run of tomorrow's presentation. They're not all that exciting--the new Kindle just looks like a jumbo Kindle 2.
- This Kindle may be called the Kindle DX, according to Engadget's anonymous source.
- The same source says it has a 9.7-inch screen (compared to the 6-inch screen on the Kindle 2).
- Allegedly, the device has a more robust built-in PDF reader and "the ability to add annotations in addition to notes and highlights."
- The Wall Street Journal has an article on the textbook angle of the new Kindle.
- Rumor has it that The New York Times will be lowering its Kindle subscription rate from $13.99 to $9.99. That would be a good move if true.
- The Wall Street Journal says the new Kindle will have a more functional browser.
- It's also reporting that select students at select universities will receive the new, larger Kindles with pre-installed textbooks for chemistry, computer science and a freshman seminar. Pace, Case Western, Princeton, Reed, Arizona State, and Darden School at the University of Virginia will initially lead the lineup for the college Kindle program.
- There's no word on price or whether this will be a touch-screen model.
As always, feel free to comment. We'll have full details Wednesday on the new Kindle after it's officially announced.
Plastic Logic has be showing off a larger form factor e-reader--but Amazon may get to market first.
(Credit: Plastic Logic)Rumors have been circulating for a while that Amazon has a larger form factor Kindle in the works--and we may get a first look at it as soon as this week, according to sources who spoke with The New York Times.
Initially, a lot of the chatter around a new jumbo Kindle was focused on the textbook market. But in recent months, as more newspapers and magazines have become threatened with extinction, these larger e-readers--which also include models from Plastic Logic and News Corp.--have increasingly been pitched as digital saviors for old-media companies looking for what the Times calls "electronic life preservers."
The Times didn't specifically refer to itself as one of the companies requiring such a preserver, but it is expected to be featured in the introduction of the new Amazon device along with other major newspapers and magazines that are already available on the Kindle e-readers for a monthly fee.
Clearly, it's that ability to charge a fee and the potential cost savings of a paperless platform that makes digital readers so attractive to newspapers and magazines. As the Times and other have pointed out, publishers could "save millions on the cost of printing and distributing their publications, at precisely a time when their businesses are under historic levels of pressure."
But there are some inherent problems with shifting paper readers over to e-readers. ... Read more
The Irex 1000 line: add white for Kindle of the future?
(Credit: Irex)Back when the rumors of a Kindle 2 started last year, there was also some chatter about a larger form factor Kindle that would be designed partially for the educational market. Well, now that the Kindle 2 has arrived, the rumor mill is churning again with blog posts about a larger form factor Kindle 3 that has a touch screen.
The initial report comes from DigiTimes, which says sources within Prime View International (PVI), the makers of the Kindle's electrophoretic display (EPD), claim Amazon's next Kindle will launch by the end of this year and will be "larger in size and equipped with touch functions."
Such a product actually exists already; it's made by Irex, it has a 10.2-inch touch screen, and I wrote about it way back in September of last year. The Irex Digital Reader 1000S is currently available for a whopping $859.
We assume Amazon would be able to come out with a model that carries a lower, more reasonable price tag. But there are probably some serious challenges to get the price down anywhere near to where the current Kindle 2 sits--and already a lot of people think the Kindle 2 is expensive at $359.
It's worth noting that in its post, Engadget cites a Plastic Logic 8.5 x 11-inch touch-screen eBook reader as a potential partner for Amazon (see image below with Photoshopped logo). That type of device seems more in keeping with Amazon's thinner, slicker Kindle 2 design.
Personally, I think all this stuff is a long way off. End of the year maybe, but most likely 2010.
Comments?
Digitimes via Mobile Read via Engadget.
A fantasy mock-up of Plastic Logic's Kindle 3.
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