After huge success of Kindle e-reader in US, Amazon.com is set to launch its touchscreen e-reader in UK in April. It will be priced at £109 for a wi-fi model and £169 for the 3G model. The touchscreen lets readers flip pages by tapping, search and add notes using a fingertip.
Amazon has still not announced a release date for its colour Kindle Fire entertainment tablet, which offers the same e-reading capabilities but with the addition of music, video and apps.
“UK customers have been asking us to make Kindle Touch available on Amazon.co.uk and we are excited to do so today,” said Jorrit Van der Meulen, Vice President, Kindle, Amazon EU. ‘Readers in the UK buy an average of 4 times the number of books they purchased prior to owning a Kindle. “With the launch of Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G we expect to see this reading renaissance continue.”
The new e-reader will offer an extra-long battery life of up to two months – the current model offers roughly a month in normal use.
Kindle Fire tablets are only tablets which have given tough competition to Apple’s iPads in US in lower segment of the market, who cannot afford iPad which starts at $499. Apple is rumored to be considering a seven-inch version of iPad to combat the threat of Amazon’s low-priced Kindle Fire Android tablet, the price of which is just $199.
