The Channel Wire

April 10, 2009

The second version of Amazon's Kindle e-reader hasn't been out two months, but Kindle 2 may already have a big brother on the way. According to a late Friday The Wall Street Journal report, Amazon is working on a new larger-screen version of Kindle that could be available before the 2009 holiday shopping season.

The Journal cited unnamed sources who said they had seen prototype versions of the new Kindle. Amazon itself wouldn't comment except to tell the Journal that it wouldn't speak to "rumors or speculation."

Currently, Amazon offers subscriptions to some newspapers and magazines, with content from those periodicals formatted for the small screen. If Amazon is indeed working on a larger-screen Kindle, it may be to counter news organizations like Hearst Corp. and News Corp., both of which are said to be developing larger-screen e-readers specifically for periodicals.

The debut of Amazon's Kindle 2 on Feb. 9 thrust e-reading devices and applications into the mainstream spotlight. While Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader remain the best-known devices, there are plenty of other devices and apps available.

Sony itself has stepped up its efforts to stay in the e-reading limelight, launching a new marketing campaign around its Reader and partnering with Google to make Google's 500,000 public domain e-books available on Sony Readers for free download.

Retailer Barnes & Noble also is said to be working with Sprint Nextel and an unidentified manufacturer on another e-reading device, according to a Thursday report in TheStreet.com.

Amazon has been working to increase Kindle's exposure, including the launch of a Kindle application for Apple's iPhone last month. The company has also been the subject of more than a few lawsuits accusing Amazon and Kindle of violating various patents.