Honeymoon Already Over For Amazon Kindle DX?

Dubbed the Kindle DX, according to most reports, the device is supposedly a 9.7-inch, large-screen version of Amazon's Kindle, and one designed specifically for newspapers, magazines and textbooks.

You probably know all the speculation by now because if you follow technology, you can't quite avoid it: the specs on the Kindle DX (now with PDF reader!); the leaked photos; the likelihood that The New York Times is involved and plans to lower its monthly Kindle subscription rates; and the much-discussed plan to preload textbooks on Kindles and test them out with six colleges and universities, including Pace University, the site of Wednesday's 10:30 a.m. ET press conference.

Given how much hype Amazon has enjoyed for Kindle since the Kindle 2.0 debuted in February, its public relations team should consider the buzz leading up to whatever Wednesday's announcement is a win with a big fat "W."

But with so much analysis and speculation on a device that hasn't even been confirmed yet -- Amazon did not respond to repeated requests for comment from Channelweb.com on Monday and Tuesday -- is the honeymoon for Amazon Kindle DX or whatever it is, over already? Has the backlash set in before there's even a chance to hear Amazon out?

It sure seems like it, at least from naysayers who think any impact a large-screen Kindle would have on the ailing print periodical industry is a Band-Aid at best. Despite the savings benefits of a Kindle model for newspapers, magazines and textbooks -- nonexistent printing costs, for one -- is a single device really prepared to "save" an industry with humbling profit problems and outdated revenue models? Probably not.

But most of the pre-Kindle DX speculation has focused on the competition. There are plenty of other manufacturers out there in the market not only for e-reading devices but periodical-friendly e-readers specifically.

News organizations like Hearst Corp. and News Corp., and manufacturers like Plastic Logic have been said to be developing similar devices. And that's to say nothing of Apple and its hotly rumored multipurpose tablet -- if there's a Kindle killer waiting in the wings out there, say some observers, an Apple tablet will be it.

Does that mean the supposed Kindle DX's days are numbered from the moment it arrives? Numbered, that is, until the supposed Apple device makes its supposed debut at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in June? That's a lot of "supposeds." Time to end advance speculation and see what Amazon's got cooking Wednesday. Keep checking Channelweb.com for all the updates you need.