TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Amazon's newest Kindle is bigger

ADVERTISEMENT

By RACHEL METZ

The Associated Press

Published: May 7, 2009

NEW YORK - Amazon.com Inc. hopes a bigger version of its Kindle electronic reading device can be a hit, even if it's more expensive, and the company is targeting, in part, college students who are eager to save money on textbooks.

The publishing industry has said e-books account for less than 1 percent of book sales.

Now, by offering the larger $489 version of the Kindle and the smaller $359 Kindle 2, Amazon will try to open more avenues for digital versions of books - and other kinds of content. The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post plan pilot programs in which they will offer the new Kindle at a discount to readers who sign up to read the news on the device.

Three textbook publishers - Pearson PLC, Cengage Learning and John Wiley & Sons - have agreed to sell books on the device. Collectively, they publish 60 percent of higher-education textbooks, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT