Amazon Introduces Kindle DX with Global Wireless

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I don’t understand the whole E-Book reader thing?! What’s wrong with a real book?

Amazon.com, Inc. today introduced Kindle DX with Global Wireless – a new version of the 9.7-inch wireless reading device now with the convenience of wireless content delivery in over 100 countries. In addition to the convenient features such as 60 second downloads, easy-to-use page-turn buttons, and instant dictionary lookup that have made the 6-inch Kindle the bestselling product across all of Amazon, the new Kindle DX with Global Wireless has a large 9.7-inch electronic paper display, auto-rotate capability and storage for up to 3,500 books. Kindle DX with Global Wireless is available for pre-order starting today for $489 at www.amazon.com/kindledx and ships Jan. 19.

“Kindle DX is great for personal and professional documents, cookbooks, and textbooks – anything that is highly formatted. Documents look so good on the big Kindle DX display, that you’ll find yourself changing ink toner cartridges less often and printing fewer documents”

Kindle DX wirelessly downloads books, newspapers, magazines, blogs and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution 9.7-inch electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. With 2.5 times the surface area of Kindle’s 6-inch display, Kindle DX’s larger electronic paper display with 16 shades of gray has more area for graphic-rich content such as professional and personal documents, newspapers, magazines, and textbooks. Kindle reads like printed words on paper because the screen works using real ink and doesn’t use a backlight, eliminating the eyestrain and glare associated with other electronic displays.

“Kindle DX is great for personal and professional documents, cookbooks, and textbooks – anything that is highly formatted. Documents look so good on the big Kindle DX display, that you’ll find yourself changing ink toner cartridges less often and printing fewer documents,” said Ian Freed, Amazon.com Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “Now Kindle DX with Global Wireless lets customers enjoy the ease of Whispernet wireless delivery of books, newspapers, magazines, blogs and documents while traveling in over 100 countries worldwide.”

Kindle with Global Wireless, Amazon’s 6-inch purpose-built reading device, was released in October 2009 and has already shipped to over 130 countries. Kindle is the most wished for, most gifted, and #1 bestselling item across the millions of products sold on Amazon.com.

The Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore) now has more than 400,000 books, including New Releases and 96 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers, which are typically $9.99 or less. More than 50,000 books have been added to the Kindle Store in just the last three months.

Over 80 top U.S. and international newspapers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, Financial Times, The Times (UK), Globe and Mail (Canada), Le Monde (France), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany), O Globo (Brazil), Hindustan Times (India), The Mainichi Daily News (Japan), El Pais (Spain), La Stampa (Italy), Shanghai Daily (China), El Universal (Mexico), Moscow Times (Russia) and The Prague Post (Czech Republic) are also available in the Kindle Store for single purchase or subscription, and can now be delivered wirelessly in over 100 countries and territories. Over 40 top magazines, such as The Economist, Newsweek, Time, The New Yorker, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, Forbes, Fortune, PC Magazine, and The New England Journal of Medicine are also available for single purchase or subscription, and can also be delivered wirelessly in the U.S. and abroad. U.S. Kindle customers can also continue to take advantage of the Kindle Store’s selection of over 8,000 blogs and receive new posts while traveling overseas.

Kindle DX with Global Wireless offers customers the same features that have helped make Kindle DX a top seller since it was introduced last May:

  • Wireless Delivery of Personal and Professional Documents: Customers can take their personal and professional documents with them around the world with Kindle DX. They can even wirelessly receive personal and professional documents while they’re on the road, saving the hassle of searching for a printer or fax machine.
  • Built-In PDF Reader: Kindle DX features a built-in, native PDF reader using Adobe Reader Mobile technology for reading professional and personal documents. With a larger display and built-in PDF reader, Kindle DX customers can read professional and personal documents with more complex layouts without scrolling, panning, or zooming, and without re-flowing. Everything from annual reports with graphs to flight manuals with maps to musical scores can be viewed on a single, crisp screen with Kindle DX.
  • Auto-Rotation: Kindle DX’s display content auto-rotates so users can read in portrait or landscape mode, or flip the device to read with either hand. Simply turn Kindle DX and immediately see full-width landscape views of maps, graphs, tables and images.
  • 3.3 GB Memory Holds up to 3,500 Books: With 3.3 GB of available memory, Kindle DX can hold up to 3,500 books, compared to 1,500 with Kindle. And because Amazon automatically backs up a copy of every Kindle book purchased, customers can wirelessly re-download titles from their library at any time.
  • Annotation and Bookmarks: The Kindle DX keyboard lets customers add annotations to text, just as they would write in the margins of a book. Customers can edit, delete and export these notes, highlight and clip key passages, and bookmark pages for future use. Additionally, Kindle DX automatically bookmarks the last page a customer reads of any content.
  • Automatically Syncs With Kindle and Kindle Compatible Devices: Amazon’s Whispersync technology automatically syncs customers’ last page read, bookmarks, notes and highlights across Kindle, Kindle DX and Kindle-compatible devices like Kindle for PC and Kindle for iPhone, as well as additional applications coming soon, including Kindle for Mac and Kindle for Blackberry.
  • Incredibly Thin: Kindle DX is just over a third of an inch, which is thinner than most magazines.
  • Adjustable Text Size: Kindle DX has six adjustable font sizes to suit your reading preference. You can increase the text size of your favorite book or periodical with the push of a button. If your eyes tire, simply increase the font size and continue reading comfortably. Now every book in your library can be large print.
  • 3G Wireless, No PC, No Hunting for Wi-Fi Hot Spots: Just like Kindle, Kindle DX customers automatically take advantage of Amazon Whispernet to wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download or receive new content in less than 60 seconds, and read from their library—all without a PC, Wi-Fi hot spot, or syncing. Amazon still pays for the wireless connectivity on Kindle DX so books can be downloaded in less than 60 seconds—with no monthly fees, data plans or service contracts.
  • Extended Battery Life: Kindle DX now offers extended battery life – read for up to one full week with wireless on and up to two weeks with the wireless turned off.
  • Text-to-Speech: Kindle DX offers the experimental read-to-me feature “Text-to-Speech” that converts words on a page to spoken word so customers have the option to read or listen. Customers can switch back and forth between reading and listening, and their spot is automatically saved. Pages turn automatically while the content is being read so customers can listen hands-free. Using the read-to-me feature with books, newspapers, magazines, blogs and personal documents, Kindle DX can read to you.
  • No Setup Required: When customers order a Kindle DX, it arrives from Amazon.com ready to use. There is no software to load or set up. Customers are immediately ready to shop, purchase, download and read from Kindle.
  • Built-in Dictionary and Wikipedia: Kindle has built-in access to The New Oxford American Dictionary, which contains over 250,000 entries and definitions, so readers can easily look up the definitions of words within their reading. Kindle customers also have seamless access to the world’s most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopedia—Wikipedia.org. With Kindle DX in hand, looking up people, places, events and more has never been easier. It gives whole new meaning to the phrase “walking encyclopedia.”

The new Kindle DX with Global Wireless replaces the Kindle DX with U.S. wireless, which is no longer available. Media can visit the Kindle Media Room at http://www.amazon.com/pr/kindle for additional media resources and to request an interview.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel; Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial.

Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Examples of the services offered by Amazon Web Services are Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon SimpleDB, Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS), Amazon Flexible Payments Service (Amazon FPS), Amazon Mechanical Turk and Amazon CloudFront.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, and www.amazon.cn.

As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.