New, larger Kindle could be coming from Amazon; can it save newspapers?

• Author: admin
• Filed under: Personal Gadgets
• Date: May 4,2009

The newspaper of the future may soon be in your hands. Amazon’s popular Kindle e-book reader could be set for an update as early as this week, according to a report in the New York Times.

The Times even speculates the larger model could do for newspapers what the iPod did for the music industry.

The new Kindle, the Times reports, would be better tailored to suit newspapers and magazines – and presumably help defray the high cost of printing and distribution with digital downloads over the device’s wireless Internet connection.

The current model, the Kindle 2, debuted in February to much fanfare thanks, in part, to an endorsement from trendsetting talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

It features increased storage, better battery life, improved navigation controls, faster page turns and a clearer screen than the original model, released in November of 2007.

While the current Kindle does provide access to newspapers – offering monthly subscriptions that auto-update each morning with the day’s news – it’s more suited to reading books.

A larger Kindle, which the Times reports would be roughly the size of a standard sheet of paper, would better mirror the traditional experience of reading a newspaper – and could convince consumers to pay for those digital subscriptions.

Amazon, which reported an 18% increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2009 in spite of the recession, also released a Kindle iPhone app earlier this year.

Besides providing access to newspapers, magazines and blogs, Amazon.com’s Kindle Store offers more than 270,000 books.

Read more: “New, larger Kindle could be coming from Amazon; can it save newspapers?” – http://www.nydailynews.com/tech_guide/2009/05/04/2009-05-04_new_larger_kindle_could_be_on_the_way.html#ixzz0EaKBmBN3&A