Kindle DX sold out for now, in stock June 17

Retailer may be keeping inventory low to 'create a little buzz,' analyst says

By Matt Hamblen

June 11, 2009 05:01 PM ET

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Computerworld - The Kindle DX, which started shipping only yesterday, is now listed by Amazon.com Inc. as out of stock until June 17.

Apparently, the preorders and first-day orders of the 9.7-in. wireless reading device, priced at $489, exhausted Amazon's supply. Company officials were unavailable to comment immediately.

Analyst Van Baker at Gartner Inc. said Amazon is probably intentionally keeping the DX supply low to attract more interest.

"I think it's just Amazon being Amazon, and wanting to create a little buzz around it and give the impression that it's so popular they can't keep it in stock, which keeps prices high," he said in an interview. "All that's positive, if they don't overdo it." The DX is only sold directly through the Amazon.com Web site.

Amazon's site included some owner reviews of the DX. Some expressed concern about the $489 price, but many were ecstatic about the larger screen.

One reviewer, N. Jenkins, "Mommy of Many Interests," said she could display many of her music books on the DX and place the device on her music stand while she played the cello.

Baker said that despite the glowing reviews by new owners, the market for e-readers is still relatively small. The previous two Kindle devices have sold between 500,000 and 750,000, "not exactly a barn burner," he said. He counts the total available U.S. market of customers who might buy a Kindle at 12 million, well below the possible market of 200 million for electronic games.

"Can that change? Sure, if they get every major textbook maker to provide textbooks for the DX and can get universities to subsidize the device," Baker said. "The same goes for if they get magazine and newspaper publishers on the DX."

Read more about mobile and wireless in Computerworld's Mobile and Wireless Knowledge Center.

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