Amazon unveils new Kindle DX

NEW YORK, May 6 (UPI) -- U.S. Internet retailer Amazon Wednesday launched the latest Kindle electronic digital reader -- a device with a luxuriously sized display screen.

Amazon's Web site says the device is one-third of an inch thick, has a 9.7 inch display screen measured on the diagonal and holds up to 3,500 books, periodicals and documents.

Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Bezos said the Kindle DX was the next step toward creating a "paperless society," The New York Times reported.

Three textbook publishers and several newspapers, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, agreed to deals with Amazon. The publishers, Pearson, Cengage Learning and Wiley Higher Education, said they would make their content available at the Kindle store. The newspapers agreed to offer the new Kindle to long-term subscribers at reduced prices.

The Kindle DX is expected to retail for $489 and go on sale this summer, the newspaper said.

Bezos made his presentation at Pace University, where provost Geoffrey Brackett said the learning curves of 50 students with Kindle devices would be compared to students with similar study material who do not use Kindles.

Brackett said students were already reading course materials on hand held devices.