An ambitious attempt by Amazon.com to create a new revenue stream for newspapers was met last night with immediate dissension as Rupert Murdoch challenged the business model of the new Kindle electronic reader.

The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post yesterday announced limited tests of a new way of selling the news linked to the larger version of Amazon's e-book device, the Kindle DX. The newspapers plan to offer readers outside their home delivery areas discounts on the hardware device in exchange for longer subscription terms, modelling their partnership on the mobile phone industry's bundling of handsets and services.