The 9.7-inch version of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, the Kindle DX, is now
available for $489 via Amazon’s Website. The larger display and features such
as active PDF support make the DX better suited for newspapers, business
documents and large-format books such as textbooks, the company says.
Amazon has also signed a deal with The New York Times and two other newspapers,
The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, to distribute a lower-cost version of
the Kindle DX to users who sign up for long-term subscriptions. In addition to
signing deals with major newspapers, Amazon also announced that three of the
top five textbook publishers—Cengage Learning, Pearson and Wiley—and more than
75 University Press publishers will be making their products available to the Kindle
Store starting in the fall.
The DX is just over one-third of an inch in depth and supports 3G wireless
access. The 3.3GB of storage can hold approximately 3,500 books, while the
active PDF support means business documents will display on the screen without
the need to pan, zoom or scroll.
Although Amazon’s 6-inch Kindle 2, priced at $359, and the DX have garnered
the most media attention in the e-reader market, potential buyers—including
business professionals looking to invest in a productivity tool—have other options
to consider. One company in particular, iRex Technologies, is making a serious
push into the business world with its own line of large-screen e-readers.
iRex's iLiad offers an 8.1-inch screen and an integrated touch sensor board
utilizing EMR (electromagnetic resonance)
technology with a stylus to allow swift manipulation of larger documents. The
iLiad also wirelessly syncs with your computer through iLiad Companion
Software. The company’s Digital Reader 1000S displays documents on a 10-inch E
Ink screen and allows users to make notes on the screen. Though the price is
steep ($859), the product is squarely aimed at business users who are looking
more to manipulate and upload documents than to read books. Although the 1000S
offers no Wi-Fi connectivity, for an extra $100 users will soon be able to
purchase the 1000W, which does.
The Ectaco JetBook's display is only 5 inches diagonally across and it weighs
just 7.5 ounces, but it comes with its own collection of books preinstalled. Ectaco's
Website emphasizes the JetBook's impressive multilingual capacity, useful to
the international business traveler.
Although unlikely to hit markets until 2010, Plastic Logic says its e-reader
will sport an 8.5-inch screen and support a range of business document formats,
such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
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Midmarket News & Reviews 
