Amazon attack Apple with new £109/$140 Kindle

KitGuru has been reporting lately on the success of the Amazon Kindle price drop which has led to massive sales – which have been so high that Amazon recently published on their site that there was a temporary sell out of Kindle units.

Amazon announced two lighter, more advanced units of the Kindle today and have also just launched a new UK ebook store that it said will really help to boost sales.

Amazon in a wise move have also made the device available directly from its UK site which marks a milestone for the company.

Amazon have also announced that this new version of the Kindle is going to be available without 3G, offering Wi-Fi Exclusivity. It makes sense to KitGuru as this will help keep down costs and people can download their books before leaving the house anyway.

The new Kindle has a 50% enhanced contrast ratio while being 21% smaller and 15% lighter – always a good combination to improve sales with the female audience who hate lugging around big electronic devices.

The Wi-Fi model is being sold at a very competitive £109 which works out at $170 in the USA, but people in the USA are getting it for $139. Many sighs can be heard from our UK readers already, but in reality the pricing is still very good.

The success of the iPad is based on the whopping selection of titles available on the iTunes music, video and app store and Amazon are keen to mirror this system with already over 400,000 books for sale on Amazon.co.uk. Stieg Larsson, the author of ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' has been the first author to sell 1 million ebooks through Amazon, so this is a good indication of the potential audience – its huge already.

Sales of the Kindle have increased since the iPad was released which has taken many analysts by surprise and we can only imagine that the new models will further boost the sales figures. It is worth remembering that the iPad costs a lot more than £109!

KitGuru says: We love the Amazon Kindle and are really happy its continuing to sell well, it is a great tool and will transform how many people read books. Give one a shot!

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