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Dec. 9, 2009

Amazon said today it will make its Kindle eBook reader easier to use for visually-impaired individuals by July of next year.

The models affected start with the Kindle DX family of products.

"With some core modifications, we believe the Kindle DX can be a breakthrough device for the blind person or visually impaired," said Ian Freed, vice president of Amazon-Kindle.

Freed added that his team is excited about making these enhancements.

The DX eReader will be outfitted with an audible menu system and the inclusion of extra large font to allow users who are blind or have limited sight the ability to access books without assistance.

The new larger fonts will be twice as large as the Kindle's current largest font.

The announcement comes about three weeks after the National Federation of the Blind and two universities criticized the device for its inaccessibility to blind users.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University in New York told Amazon they wouldn't consider wide-scale launches of the device until it was made more usable to the blind and visually impaired students as part of their nondiscrimination policy.

At a price of $489, the Kindle DX eBook reader is especially suited for use by educational institutions.

The device features a 9.7-inch diagonal eInk screen, compared to the 6-inch screen of the regular Kindle.

The DX eReader also features auto rotation and can hold up to 3,500 books in its built-in memory.

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Source: Amazon.