Kindle DX delisted by Amazon
Large-screen e-ink reader quietly retired
Amazon has begun rolling out its latest Kindle e-readers in the UK and other international markets, but it seems the large-screen Kindle DX will no longer be part of the line-up, either in the US or abroad.
Beginning on Monday, the online retailer's Kindle e-reader family now includes only the bargain-basement, ad-subsidized $69 Kindle model, the Kindle Keyboard 3G, and the newest Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Paperwhite 3G models. The Kindle DX is no longer advertised.
This hardly comes as a surprise. The Kindle DX, with its large, 9.7-inch e-ink screen, was a favorite of students and others who wanted to view documents featuring large, complex graphics and diagrams, but it was never a brisk seller.
Given the current proliferation of low-cost tablets with full-color, high-resolution screens – including Amazon's own Kindle Fire line – it also wasn't much of a bargain. The original DX debuted in 2009 for $489. Amazon lowered the price to $379 after a 2010 hardware refresh, but that's still $80 more than what an 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD goes for today.
Last week, Amazon quietly lowered the price of the DX to $299 – the same as the aforementioned Kindle Fire HD – in an apparent attempt to clear out its remaining stock.
As of Monday, the Kindle DX was no longer listed as being available direct from Amazon, although used models could be had from independent sellers in the online retailer's marketplace for $230 and up. Plenty of units were also available through online auction site eBay.
Amazon did not respond to El Reg's request for comment on the matter, and so far it has made no statement to suggest that a replacement for the large-screen e-reader is in the works. If the retailer's rumored bid for TI's chip business is any indication, however, Amazon sees its future in fondleslabs, rather than e-ink devices. ®
COMMENTS
We are going backwards ....
First low resolution Laptops and PC monitors that are WS and only TV HD
Now nothing for A4 datasheets etc. OK, the main demand is paper back size. but we need more than one size screen
Weeps
Given the choice...
...I'd much rather have a larger format liquid ink e-Reader than my iPad for reading books and other documents. Yes, it has less functionality but the battery life is great and it's easier on the eye. That's not to say that there isn't a use for fondleslabs it's just that one size does not fit all.
If I wanted a tablet, I'd get one
I was fortunate enough to land myself a WiFi-only third-gen Kindle (basically, the non-3G Kindle Keyboard) just after they were discontinued. It was a so-called "refurbished" model from the Amazon Marketplace, but I think in reality it was Amazon themselves, selling off their end-of-line stock. (My Kindle clearly hadn't been touched - it still had the plastic film wrapping on the screen, and not a mark on it.)
While I have nothing against tablets as such, I think of them as distinct from e-readers like my Kindle. I find the e-ink screen much easier to read for extended periods (a normal lit display with dark text on white b/g would give me a headache after a while), and the battery life just doesn't compare - as I write, my Kindle is getting its first charge in nearly a month, and it's been active the whole time.
Personally, I don't understand the "either/or" argument here - tablets and e-readers both have their place, and can even do each other's "jobs" if you want them to. Not that I wouldn't say no to a tablet too...
on the bright side
Could Amazon possibly be preparing next generation 10" ereader? One Paperwhite DX, please.
I have Kindle DX and it was long due for an upgrade - it's rather slow compared to modern ereaders. It has lovely screen, though.
@JDX
You seem to be dividing books into "reference" and "paperbacks". Looking at my own bookshelf, I'd say that *most* of my non-fiction titles are larger than a paperback and hardly any are works that I just just dip into to look something up. Also, there's a huge number of technical works (e.g., PDFs) that are pre-formatted to a fixed width. Viewing those on a standard kindle requires a combination of "smallest font size" and "landscape orientation".
Amazon seem to want to get out of the e-Reader market, having presumably sunk quite a lot of cash into establishing that market. Any economists out there care to suggest how that makes any kind of sense?
