Amazon’s bigger Kindle – will it catch on?

Last week Amazon released the Kindle XL, an oversized version of its EBook Reader. This new addition to the range is suitable for textbooks, PDFs and newspapers, but appears to have received a lukewarm reception with ReadWriteWeb referring to it as ‘not a game changer.’

As if to compound this, RWW’s original article by Frederic Lardinois was followed up by Rob Cottingham who suggested that the Kindle DX was going in the wrong direction. Something I agree with. Surely portable is the key here, oodles of text in a tiny space.

In the 1000heads office there is an EBook advocate and I have long debated with him that while the idea certainly has merit, I can never really see myself owning one. There are too many viable and functional alternatives, notably laptops and actual books. Admittedly if Rob’s thinking is followed through, and in fact smaller is more beautiful, maybe I’d go for it. But cheap is cheerful and EBooks just aren’t that or as it happens suitable for reading on the beach or in the bath.

Can you see the value? Thoughts welcome, but be warned the amusing comparison between EBooks and real books has already been done by Ben in the comments on Rob’s piece.

Brought into the world on Monday, May 11th, 2009 and filed under Uncategorized.