Amazon's Kindle DX Prepped for Class

On June 17, Amazon’s newest e-reader, the Kindle DX, will arrive primed at the front door to the educational and business segments.

The question, though, is will anyone invite it in?

With a price point of $489, it may struggle to find buyers. While the bigger display, basic Web browser capability and ability to read PDF documents are enticing, most companies don’t have the budget bandwidth, and most educational institutions have more compelling issues to tackle than trying to figure out how Amazon’s newest portable reading device can benefit its student and teacher client base.

Let’s face it, the main issue holding back mass adoption of e-readers, for all makers, is the price. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has gone on record more than a few times claiming the cost of electronic ink technology is prohibitive in reducing his e-reader’s price. That’s why the recently revamped six-inch long Kindle is still about $359.

But, just as with Apple and its iPhone, it's profit margins we’re talking. Amazon isn’t about to lower the Kindle margin any more than Apple is, even if that means missing a gargantuan opportunity to put e-reader technology into the hands of students and business folk.

Just think of what the Kindle, or any of Sony’s e-reader products, could do to the educational publishing industry. We could say goodbye to text books, guidebooks and holy mackerel — that awful "ditto" still being mimeographed and photo copied by teachers across the country today.

Would it wipe out what’s left of the paper and book binding printing industry? Maim the paper industry? Who would HP sells its gazillions of Web presses to once textbooks go digital?

Yes the Kindle DX is bigger (its new rotating display is 9.7 inches), with some neat features, but it’s harder to curl up in bed with, a little more awkward to carry on the subway.

While it can store more than double the books (3,500 compared to 1,500) and the browser functionality is nice, most Kindle users will likely turn on their iPhone, netbook, or laptop to go online for anything useful.

And that leads us to the inevitable discussion of whether Amazon’s decision to go with a higher-cost Kindle actually propels the iPhone into apposition of not only being a cool Web device, great music player and feature-rich smartphone, but possibly the future winner in the e-reader category.

At $199 and $299, the latest iPhones are a much more economical purchase in comparison. And remember the current iPhone is now just $99.