The device sports a 9.7-inch screen, a PDF reader, 3G wireless connectivity , and a 3.3-gigabyte memory for as many as 3,500 e-books. "Cookbooks, computer books, and textbooks -- anything highly formatted -- also shine on the Kindle DX," said Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.

Newspaper, Textbook Trials

With a display 2.5 times as large as the Kindle 2, Amazon is promoting its use to help newspapers overcome the current crisis. At a press conference at Pace University, the company said The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe will offer the Kindle DX at a reduced price to readers in areas where home delivery isn't available.

The offer only comes as part of a long-term newspaper subscription. The regular price for the Kindle DX is $489.

Besides newspapers and other periodicals, the DX is also targeted at the textbook market. Amazon announced that, beginning in the summer, publishers Cengage Learning, Pearson and Wiley will offer e-textbooks through the Kindle Store.

Trial textbook programs are being launched at Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Princeton University, Reed College, and the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business. Hundreds of Kindle DXs will be distributed to students on those campuses, and the trials will seek out advantages that e-textbooks might offer over printed ones.

Bigger Than E-Book Market

Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with industry research firm Forrester, said, "Amazon is smart to go after the textbook market, which is much bigger than the e-book market."

She said Forrester estimates a U.S. market for e-books of about five million customers, each of whom loves to read, buys a large number of books, and is an early adopter of technology.

But, Epps said, the U.S. market for textbooks is 13 million college students, plus another 50 million grade-school students. "Textbooks are a killer app for e-readers," she said, adding that an e-reader could have an even larger impact in developing countries.

The textbook market, however, is "still in the early innings," she said, with the "tipping point" a few years away. Amazon is introducing the Kindle DX so soon after its Kindle 2, she said, because "they are feeling the heat of the competition." Other large-format e-readers are expected to be released throughout this year.

Another area that could be ripe for e-readers is the professional market, including government or health care, where manuals and massive documentation are a fact of life. Epps said this business market, which is more advanced in Europe, is "potentially even bigger than textbooks, but it will take longer to develop."