The $199 Kindle Fire tablet, $149 3G Kindle Touch eReader, $99 Wi-Fi Kindle Touch eReader and $79 Kindle were all announced in late September and offered in October of 2011 for pre-launch purchase. And all those units have gone on to post impressive sales numbers for Amazon, helping keep the perennial eReading kingpin in it’s familiar number one spot in eReader sales. And now, Amazon is making the Kindle Fire tablet and Kindle Touch eReaders available Down Under.
Just a few days a go, several retailers announced the availability of the Kindle Touch eReader and Kindle Fire tablet in Australia, which can only help the sales numbers of those two leaders in their perspective marketplaces. Amazon was the third of the big three eReading manufacturers to release a touchscreen eReader, but has made up for lost time by pricing both their 3G Kindle Touch and Wi-Fi Kindle Touch at price points which tie or beat the retail prices of their top two competitors, Kobo and Barnes & Noble.
In a competitive eReader marketplace where those three companies comprise the vast majority of sales, every sale is important. To that end, Amazon has provided both Kindle Touch eReading models with some features and accessibility use unavailable through their competitors. Amazon announced a Library Lending program with more than 11,000 libraries across the US, and that allows Amazon Kindle Touch owners to “check out” digital content from their local libraries without leaving their home.
That content simply expires on the due date, meaning never again having to rush to the local library to get books in on time, or having to pay overdue fines. And it’s also a boon for the libraries, because it cuts down on the amount of staffing they need to run their operations. Amazon also gives Kindle Touch eReader owners unlimited and free Cloud Storage of all Amazon content, effectively giving the Kindle Touch eReaders the largest amount of digital storage and access in the entire eReader marketplace by far.
Amazon designed the new Kindle Touch eReaders 11% smaller and 8% lighter than the previous Kindle, the Kindle 3. And they accomplished this without sacrificing any of the 6 inch E-ink screen size. Both Kindle Touch models can run for approximately 60 days on a single charge at a consumption rate of 30 minutes per day with Wi-Fi turned off. Amazon provides free and global 3G and Wi-Fi access with no contracts, and the Kindle Touch eReaders are the only eReaders in the eReader market with audio book, MP3 support and text-to-speech functionality.
Buy the Kindle Touch starting at $99
Buy the Kindle Fire for $199
