Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has gone on record that the company will “retain a dedicated reading device” even if (when) the Amazon tablet computer is released. That is widely viewed as meaning that we can expect the Kindle 3 to continue in production – though whether the same can be taken as read for the Kindle DX remains to be seen.
With its large 9.7″ e-ink technology screen, the DX is promoted as being the reader of choice for anyone who reads a lot of magazines, academic textbooks or newspapers – and it may well be the best on the market for that type of reading material. However, you do have to wonder if readers of such publications might benefit from a color screen – such as will almost certainly be found on the Amazon tablet computer when it launches. Whether it will have an e-ink technology display or not remains to be seen, but even were it to come with a back-lit screen, it’s not likely to be used for prolonged periods of reading such as would be typical with a novel for example.
The price is another factor to be taken into consideration. The e-ink display is one of the costliest items in any e-book reader. Hence the reason that Amazon’s DX model comes with a price tag of $ 379 (compared to the $ 114 for the entry level Kindle with Special Offers). Business analysts are predicting that the Amazon tablet will launch before the end of 2011 and that, when it does, it will sell for less than the tablets on the market today. Amazon are expected to offset the cost of the hardware against future sales, and some analysts are predicting a price of around $ 349.
We’re that prediction to prove accurate, you would have to ask why anyone would pay more for a Kindle DX when they could have an all singing all dancing tablet for less money. Of course, the DX may be retained with a substantially lower price. Only time will tell.