About a week ago I posted about how Amazon had cut the price of the Kindle DX from $379 to $299. As expected it was indeed a final sale to eliminate stock, because the Kindle DX is no longer available for purchase from Amazon; it’s only being sold used through third party merchants.
Even more damning, there’s no mention of the Kindle DX coming back in stock, and it has been removed from the Kindle family box and all the Kindle comparison tables at Amazon—certainly not the sign of a simple stock shortage.
Amazon’s actions are clear. The Kindle DX is being discontinued. They haven’t updated it in years, and stopped advertising it in press releases ages ago. And if they were going to introduce a new model this year they would have done so by now (the fact that the 8.9″ Kindle Fire HD doesn’t start shipping until mid-November proves it).
Even though the Kindle DX was thin in the features department, and the keyboard was hard to use because the device was so top-heavy, it’s sad to see it go, especially without a newer model replacing it.
One could hope that it will be resurrected in the future to include either a color E Ink screen or even a Paperwhite screen.
But that’s unlikely with the heavy market shift toward tablets. Amazon now has the 8.9″ Kindle Fire HD to market for textbooks, magazines, and larger form content. Plus it offers a lot more features than something with an E Ink screen could, and for cheaper no less.
There just doesn’t seem to be enough of a market for 9.7″ E Ink ebook readers anymore. The Kindle DX was one of the last options in the U.S. Pretty much anything else has to be imported. Oddly though, Amazon is still selling the international version of the older 2nd generation Kindle DX with severely dated software and hardware.
I still hope for a big screen pdf reader in the future. Tablets just don’t offer the kind of battery life of a passive display. In my opinion the reflective display of a tablet isn’t much more comfortable to read on than on a regular computer screen. The only real advantage is the portability. A tablet is more handy to take out of your bag for reading than a laptop when you are on the move. But tablets with the screen size of the dying kindle dx aren’t that easy to come buy and usually not a bargain too.
Whats about the Icarus Excel?
Yeah it’s still being sold on Amazon, but hails from the Netherlands.
Here is my theory: The Kindle DX was supposed to be a wildly successful textbook reader, to be adopted by universities and schools across the nation. Instead, it got an extremely lukewarm reception, and its price was absolutely unreasonable. College students couldn’t afford the original $450 price tag, and after the trial runs and surveys at a few higher ed locations, universities weren’t eager to shell out the big bucks either. Amazon most likely over-produced thousands of DXs, betting on a huge success in the education field, and they ended up getting stuck with a massive back supply. It just took them this long, from 2010 to almost 2013, to sell off the last units.
I hold out hope for a highly advanced 9.7″ E Ink reader in the future, but I don’t think it will come from Amazon.
Kindle DX Paperwhite will be unveiled at Amazon mid-November event.
I’m not buying it. Why would they hold a separate event just for the DX.
What are you smoking?
Right, a special event for just one device, the least popular of all Kindle eReader and tablet models. I don’t think so.
I am waiting, waiting…
Hi Everyone,
The 9.7 inch e-ink screen is a good thing and I own the Onyx M92. Reading full size paper documents (books and magazines) with a reflective display is very useful.
The issue with Amazon is their reluctance to support industry standard formats (.epub and .pdf). What support that is provided is “backhanded”. If you want to annotate .pdf documents then they have to be converted to Amazon’s format. Amazon is using the Kindle line as a razor and they expect make money selling the blades.
Onyx as a comparison has extensive support for the .pdf and .epub format. With the .pdf format you can save your highlights and comments into the .pdf file (a copy is created) and the send that file to anyone with Acrobat and they can open the .pdf and read your comments created on the e-reader. What’s left to develop is importing existing highlights and comments.
A large screen .pdf reader will never come out of Amazon unless they change the underlying business model.
I agree with the comments about the DX lacking proper support for EPUB and PDF. That’s why I bought a Pocketbook 902 (see http://www.pocketbook-int.com/us/products/pocketbook-902 )
I really wanted an ereader for reading hardcover size text at home and I didn’t want to have to stuff around installing a thrid party possibly warranty voiding hacked OS onto the Kindle DX (even though the DX’s screen looked beautiful.) I really resent paying hundreds of dollars for something that’s locked down into proprietary formats. The way Amazon locks users in Kindles would have to be free to get me interested.
I’ve been really happy with my Pocketbook alhough I’d warn any potential purchaser that it can read PDF text just fine but any large PDF with lots of photos such as a magazine can be VERY slow to render.
Also, just found out yesterday that Pocketbook has pulled out of every Western market except Germany. So there’s probably some truth to the lack of demand for larger screen ereaders. This is really sad. Alhough 6 inch screens can be ok for the daily commute by train or whatever as a bibliophile IMHO there’s just no substitute for chilaxing at home with a hardcover sized novel.
DX is not popular simply because kids don’t like to read those days…