While reading about Amazon’s recent launch of the Kindle DX, the large screen addition to the Kindle family, I was surprised to learn textbooks are a $9.8 billion dollar industry. In a bold move to become a major player in this market, Amazon introduced the Kindle DX in hopes of “spearheading a paperless revolution,” as described by Brian Chen with Wired.com in his recent article, about the launch of the DX.

Although Amazon’s cause to move towards a paperless revolution may be noble, its entry has been met with some initial skepticism. According to Chen, several of the students polled by Wired.com via Twitter expressed concerns regarding the DX’s expensive $500 price tag as well as its difficulty for studying. One polled student said, “I’d need five Kindles just to hold a single thought while writing essays. Books work just fine”

Regardless of this sentiment, Amazon is moving forward and announced partnerships with several universities and publishers. According to an earlier article written by Chen, the DX will be made available to students to use in place of textbooks.

From a PR perspective, I believe Amazon’s move to partner with universities is a smart one. It will allow the company to:

1. Secure feedback from students about their experience using the DX versus textbooks.

2. Begin building the DX customer base which may translate to lifelong Kindle users and advocates for the product.

3. Track and publicize the positive benefits to universities and students of going paperless – a topic that is close to the heart for a generation of young adults growing up in more environmentally aware society.

For example, Princeton, one of the participants in the program, is hoping the Kindle DX will decrease the amount of paper used on its campus. If the program is successful, Amazon should develop a case study to make the argument for other why universities should adopt the DX.

I had a few other ideas on how Amazon might leverage and publicize its partnerships with the universities.

– Hold Focus Groups & Publicize the Findings. Amazon could identify students to participate in focus groups. Several of the students could use the DX while others would rely on textbooks. This would allow Amazon to directly compare changes in behavior, attitudes around costs, impact on studying habits, etc. with students using the DX versus text books. Focus groups are an invaluable tool for acquiring feedback and the potential market acceptance of a product.

– Leverage Social Media. Create a Twitter page to share best practices for the DX and motivate users to tweet about their experiences online. I believe there is a huge opportunity to share tidbits about DX features so students derive maximum benefit from their readers and libraries.

– Reward Good Behavior. Hold a contest to identify and publicize the top environmentally-friendly universities across the nation. Share best practices for going green and the DX’s role in reducing paper use.

These are just a few of our preliminary ideas on how Amazon can leverage student experience to demonstrate the benefits of the DX versus traditional textbooks.

It is clear Amazon is seizing the opportunity to create a compelling PR campaign around one of the most talked about gadgets of the year. It will be interesting to see if it can deliver on driving the paperless revolution.