Amazon Debuts $399 Kindle E-Book Reader Device

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 19, 2007 - 9:41am.

Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) on Monday introduced its $399 Kindle portable e-book reader device, and a library of more than 90,000 books available for download through the Kindle Store for about $9.99 each.

The device weighs 10.3 ounces, sports an "electronic ink" display from E Ink, and features a full keyboard.

The Kindle utilizes an EVDO wireless network through a new service called Amazon Whispernet, which enables content downloads without a PC or Wi-Fi hotspot.

Following a universal two-week free trial, newspaper subscriptions are $5.99 to $14.99 per month, Kindle magazines are $1.25 to $3.49 per month, and wireless delivery of blogs starts at 99 cents each per month.

The device also allows users to upload their own documents, for a fee of 10 cents per document; however, the common PDF standard is not supported.

Other features include a Web browser, built-in New Oxford American Dictionary, and access to Wikipedia.org.

The Kindle includes storage capacity for up to 200 books, and supports standard SD memory cards as well; battery life is pegged at about 48 hours with the wireless feature on, and a week or more with wireless connectivity disabled.

"We've been working on Kindle for more than three years. Our top design objective was for Kindle to disappear in your hands -- to get out of the way -- so you can enjoy your reading," said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

"We also wanted to go beyond the physical book. Kindle is wireless, so whether you're lying in bed or riding a train, you can think of a book, and have it in less than 60 seconds."