Amazon announced the Kindle DX (DX for deluxe) in May of 2009 and it [pin]started shipping|was released[/spin] in early June – just a few months after the launch of the updated Kindle 2 in February 2009. The DX, with its large 9.7” screen, was heavily promoted as being ideal for reading newspapers, magazines and academic textbooks and, although there have been some joint ventures put in place with a good number of newspapers and magazines, it’s probably fair to say that the academic textbook market potential has created the most excitement over the past few weeks.

Six colleges and universities have currently agreed a partnership with Amazon. These include Princeton, the Darden School of Business, Case Western, Reed College, Pace and Arizona State University.

It may be somewhat surprising, considering the possible benefits – which include interactive education, easier and faster updating of textbooks and financial savings – that more than one of these universities have stated that saving paper and being more environmentally friendly is a key consideration in the introduction of the Kindle on campus. According to Lauren Robinson-Brown, Priceton’s assistant vice president for communications, “… sustainability is the driving force behind Princeton using the Kindle”. The Kindle program is to be a key element of a Princeton initiative to reduce the use of printed paper.

In a similar vein, Robert Carraway, an associate dean of Darden School of Business said that the school had a target to be “carbon neutral” by 2020 and that the Kindle reader seemed to be one viable method which would help to achieve this. Case Western Reserve’s chief information officer, Lev Gonick, said that, whilst was clearly one advantage of the program “…freshman student success is really our interest in Kindle”.

Aside from the pilot schemes in partnership with these 6 universities, Amazon must have been pleased to hear that the state of California will also commence providing free digital textbooks for students in certain subject areas. This program will also start in fall of 2009 and, whilst Governor Schwarzenegger’s announcement did not specifically mention the Kindle it does seem likely to be the most likely to benefit at this time, given its position as the current industry leader.

Also pleasing for the Amazon sales team would have been the recent report issued by the New Democratic Leadership Council, tiltled “A Kindle In Every Backpack”. The report suggests that America’s K-12 schoolchildren should be issued with a free electronic book reader. The document suggests that this would cut costs and allow for constant updating of academic textbooks.

It’s difficult to imagine, given the current level of support that electronic readers for educational purposes are enjoying, that the academic textbook market isn’t about to see some significant changes which, based upon the fact that there are several confirmed projects about to start as early as this fall, will be in the immediate future. At the moment Amazon is the leader of the pack with the Kindle reader, but competition already exists and further readers are planned forlaunch in 2010 from competitors such as Plastic Logic and Apple.

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