Sources: Amazon expanding Kindle screen

SEATTLE, April 11 (UPI) -- Amazon.com Inc. will soon offer a Kindle electronic book reader with a larger screen for U.S. consumers, sources say.

The unidentified sources said the bigger-screen Kindle may be ready for distribution as early as the 2009 Christmas holiday season, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Details regarding the new size of the screen were not reported.

The current Kindle wireless reading device offers a 6-inch diagonal electronic paper display.

The Journal said an increased screen size could make Kindle an increased draw for newspaper and magazine publishers, as well as textbook and manual publishers.

Guy Vidra, WashingtonPost.com head of business development and emerging media, told the Journal an increased screen size simply offers a better reading experience for publications and advertising alike.

Jennifer Colegrove, director of display-technology research for the NPD Group's DisplaySearch, the number of electronic book readers worldwide should triple in number this year compared with 2008's 1 million readers.