New Amazon Kindle DX... $489?

Intriguing positioning for the new, larger Kindle DX, trying to provide an alternative to bulky textbooks among other things. In this article from today's WSJ, the author questions whether the the pricepoint will appeal to college students. I think it's a question of comparative costs, and how much will be charged for the digital Kindle-versioned books... and this is where things get interesting.

With a kid about to enter college, I've peeked at prices for books. It's easy to rack up a big bill with $139 biology texts and $79 economic tomes. The $489 might be a steal if the publishers and amazon get their pricing model in order. But will they?

I started wondering, how much cost can be taken out of the textbook business by reducing pages into bytes? How green is digitally distributing content when compared to shipping heavy books? How much can a publisher improve profit margins by taking these costs out and still charging a lower price to the consumer?

Apparently, I'm not the only one considering these questions. Check out this dialog on the cost of publishing physical books, including the responses from readers. Part of the rub is a perception that amazon and book publishers are not transferring cost savings to consumers. I'm sure there are well-considered arguments about "channel conflict" with distributors, wholesalers, etc. There is also clearly a thirst for profits within the publishing industry.

There's a further rub: the Kindle is a fine product for reading a novel or a short story. Going from page 1 to 2 to 327 in order. It's not so hot for textbook or other non-linear reading (thank-you, Jakob Nielsen, for a great review of Kindle 2 usability!).

My Kindle 2 is a slick device, but I don't use it much. I like to dog-ear pages, write notes in margins, and flip back and forth between sections. The Kindle stinks for this type of activity, which is precisely what college students do!

So... Amazon is launching a $489 dollar device that could provide "green" advantages versus traditional book publishing, and will absolutely reduce the physical strain on students currently schlepping texts across campus. It also looks cool. Will it be enough to justify the costs? Without price concessions on the Kindle version of the texts and/or a significant usability enhancement, this launch feels likely to be more about buzz than benefit.