Amazon unveils Kindle DX |
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Amazon.com is holding an event this morning in New York to unveil its large-screen Kindle, but already the company has posted a product page for the new device. Dubbed Kindle DX, it sports a 9.7-inch display and PDF support. It's priced at at a whopping $489, and will ship this summer.
According to the product page, the Kindle DX has:
• 9.7-inch display.
• an auto-rotating screen.
• built-in PDF reader.
• ability to do bookmarks and annotation.
• a "basic web browser."
Update: The New York Times, Boston Globe, and Washington Post will offer Kindle DX 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," according to an Amazon press release.
Amazon is also making a big push into academia. Textbook publishers Cengage Learning,
As expected, a number of universities will take part in a trial project with Amazon:
Kindle DX's built-in PDF reader uses Adobe Reader Mobile technology. "Like other types of documents on Kindle, customers simply email their PDF format documents to their Kindle email address or move them over using a USB connection," Amazon said.
Update: Apparently there was a "whoops" moment during Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Kindle DX presentation at Pace University in New York this morning.
As Brad Stone of the New York Times described in his live blog of the event:
In an awkward glitch during a demo, the image of the Kindle DX is projected onto a big screen backwards. “I’m going to choose to find this hilarious,” Mr. Bezos said. And now the screen has gone completely dark.
A few minutes later, Stone wrote that the screen was back up, "just as it appeared Mr. Bezos was about to fire someone." Ouch.
New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, who shared the stage with Bezos at the event, did not specify the size of the Kindle DX discount his newspaper would offer.
Here are more images:




Also here's an Amazon video demo of Kindle DX.
ERIC ENGLEMAN is senior technology staff writer for TechFlash and the Puget Sound Business Journal, covering online retail giant Amazon.com. Engleman tracks Amazon's increasingly complex business, spanning ecommerce, Kindle, cloud computing, and more. He's been covering technology and other industries for the Business Journal since 2003.
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