Amazon's newspaper rescue plan

Have you bought a Kindle 2yet? Yeah, me neither.

But they're popular, and now Amazon is looking to pump some blood back into the newspaper industry by making a Kindle with a larger screen (say, the size of a sheet of paper).

Some aren't convinced that this will do anything to save those old, yellowed newspapers, and I have my own concerns about how a larger Kindle will be more popular than a laptop/netbook/cellphone.

Is this enough? Will Amazon, and other creators of "e-readers," be able to harness technology to rescue a failing industry in the same way Apple popularized digital music downloads with their iPod? Even then, will enough people buy these new Kindles to even have a positive impact?

This may be one of the last chances for newspapers (along with Journalism Online), so it will be interesting to see if any of these new developments help the industry survive.

Updates:

• The Wall Street Journal is reporting that "some students at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland will be given large-screen Kindles with textbooks for chemistry, computer science and a freshman seminar already installed." - Amazon to Launch Kindle for Textbooks It's better than lugging a backpack full of stones (I mean books) around all day.
• Damon Darlin of The New York Times shares his first impressions of the new Kindle DX. So that's what it's going to be called, then.
• 05/08/09 - From Gizmodo: "Amazon Wants 70% of Newspaper Revenue for Kindle Distribution?" Yes, that is definitely going to help save the newspaper industry. Yay Amazon.