Amazon.com’s large-screen e-book reader, the Kindle DX, will be available to SA consumers later this month, the US-based online retailer has confirmed.
The DX will go on sale to more than 100 countries on 19 January, Amazon said in a statement on Wednesday. It will retail for US$489 (about R3 600 before shipping and taxes). It follows last year’s decision by the company to sell its smaller Kindle device in international markets.
The DX features a larger screen — 9,7 inches against the Kindle’s 6 inches — and has the same “Whispernet” support for international wireless services as the Kindle that went on sale worldwide in October 2009.
Amazon says its Kindle Store now has more than 400 000 e-books. Bestsellers are typically priced at $9,99. More than 50 000 books have been added to the Kindle Store in the past three months, the company says.
The Kindle DX includes auto-rotation so users can read in portrait or landscape mode — or even flip the device to read with either hand. It has 3,3GB of memory capable of holding up to 3 500 books.
Amazon’s decision to launch the DX outside the US comes amid growing competition in the e-book reader market from Sony, Barnes & Noble, and others. — Staff reporter, TechCentral