RSSKindle DX debuts, signs up for fall classes
By Tim Conneally | Published May 6, 2009, 2:36 PM
Amazon officially debuted the Kindle DX today, following several days of leaked images and information that resulted in almost full disclosure.
The Kindle DX has a 9.7" e-ink display and offers 3.3 GB of storage versus the Kindle 2's 6" screen and 2 GB of storage. Rather than knock down the $359 price of the only three-month-old Kindle 2, the Kindle DX simply enters the market at $489 and creates a new size-based tier.
Only a few genuinely new bits of information about the Kindle DX hardware came out today, one is that it has automatic portrait/landscape screen swapping a la iPhone, and another is that it has native PDF support unlike its smaller counterpart, which requires conversion.
Less surprising, but no less intriguing, is the support Amazon has received from The New York Times Company, which announced that all New York Times best sellers and new releases will carry a fixed $9.99 price, and that users of the Kindle who are long-term subscribers to The New York Times, The Washington Post and Boston Globe will be offered a reduced subscription price, similar to the "Lifetime subscription rate" originally offered to Sirius satellite radio customers.
Confirming rumors from late last summer, Amazon announced today that a Kindle pilot program for university students is scheduled to begin next fall at ASU, Princeton, Reed College (Ore.), UVA Darden School of Business, and Case Western Reserve University. The two-semester long program will compare students' experiences with the Kindle DX with those of students using traditional textbooks in the same class, and weigh the device's currently unproven efficacy as a learning tool.
Each university will be testing a different portion of its student body. At Case Western Reserve University, for example, Chemistry, Computer Science and Freshman Seminar classes will be involved in the pilot program. At the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, the pilot project will include one group of full-time MBA students, and one group of students in its MBA for Executives program.
"We expect considerable interest from our students in terms of pilot program participation," said Darden's Associate Dean for MBA Programs Robert Carraway today, "Having the case studies and textbooks required for classes on the Kindle DX will be a wonderful benefit to students."
The pricing for this device insults one's intelligence. At least include 50+ books or something tangible with the device.
The tech is cool, but the pricing seems about 20-30% out of whack for mass adoption.
If you can get a tablet ultraportable, with 9 hours battery, you can do so very much more than this device ever can.
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|True but 8 hours and paying for 3g modem internet at about 50 bucks a month or the Kindle which is about 2 weeks of charge, (4day with wireless on) and unlimited 3g internet for free. Which do you think is better now?
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|There is no comparison. The primary reason for the Kindle to be online with its current feature set is to buy stuff. Ideally on impulse. Or did you manage to set up a web browser, email and IM on yours?
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|well, i think it has it drawbacks too.
but i think one of the benefits of the compact little machine is that it can contain dozens of textbooks and can be carried with one hand.
perhaps, adding a digital writing pad, the back pack will become history.
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