Success at Scale

Amazon isn’t exactly transparent, but my best guess is it comes down to data. They actually did release a larger Kindle—the DX, with an even larger screen than the Aura One—years ago, but never followed it up with a sequel.

Why?

Because not enough people bought it. Amazon is interested in success at scale.

It’s very difficult to see this from a consumer perspective, and it’s especially frustrating when it feels like there are many people asking for a larger screen, but the reality is that those folks are in the minority and unless Amazon changes its mind about their collective purchasing power, we’re unlikely to see larger Kindles.

It’s actually a tricky product to position, because the venn diagram of people who read mostly books and would benefit from a larger screen yet are not better served by buying a tablet is really small. Amazon makes the Fire tablets for people in their ecosystem who want to read comics and other things where larger screens are required (instead of just nice to have).

Still, if the Aura One makes a huge splash and demonstrates a real market need for a larger e-reader, you can bet that Amazon will make one.