International students can hate the DX too

Kindle DX.Amazon today quietly confirmed that it would start selling the Kindle DX in international markets in the near future. The news isn’t really a shock after the GSM Kindle announcement. As you may recall, the DX is the bigger version designed for textbooks and newspapers. It’s the model that was offered to Princeton students free of charge. The model those same students hated.

According to SlashGear, Amazon has only said “next year” with regard to a date and won’t say anything about pricing. The international Kindle 2 runs $20 above the states-only version. I’d guess the DX will be about the same, giving Princeton the unique opportunity of subsidizing $20 toward even crappier AT&T service for the rest of us. Thanks guys!

  

Kindle gets another price cut

Jeff Bezos with a Kindle 2.Amazon is cutting the price of the Kindle once more, this time hoping for a holiday rush. When the Kindle 2 launched it was $359. It dropped to $299 in July and has now cut another $40, bringing the world’s most famous e-reader to an almost reasonable $259 ($199 and we’ll talk, Bezos).

With the price cut also came news that wireless download capabilities have been added internationally in 10 different countries. That’s a big update for a feature that was previously only available stateside. The updated wireless also comes with a carrier change, from Sprint to (gasp!) AT&T. Yes, AT&T will be handling wireless communications for the internationally capable device in the US and abroad, which makes me wonder, does AT&T want to bury itself under a mountain of complaints? Of course, there are so few Kindles in the wild compared the newly VoIP over 3G enabled iPhones that this is probably a molecule in the vast ocean of AT&T’s wireless demands.

  

Kindle Drops to $299

The Kindle 2.In case you missed it yesterday, Amazon dropped the price of the Kindle to $299. Rumor has it the price drop comes as a result of increased competition from other manufacturers eager to enter the market.

Ross Rubin, a consumer analyst at NPD group had some disparaging remarks. “While it is a significant drop both in terms of the overall percentage of the price as well as getting under the $300 barrier, it is still not going to be enough to break it out of its niche,” he said. For the most part I agree. Getting under $300 probably means a few more people will pick up the device, but the price of the media hasn’t changed, and neither have the DRM issues, so it’s tough to see the Kindle really “take off” as a result of the cut.

Amazon will be offering consumers a $60 credit if they purchased a Kindle in the last 30 days. The Kindle DX, which sports a larger screen, remains at the $489 price point. For now, anyway.