Dakar - Online retail giant Amazon announced on Wednesday it will launch its Kindle ebook reader device in over 100 countries worldwide, including South Africa.
The device allows users to wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution 6-inch electronic display that looks and reads like real paper.
Newspaper and magazine subscriptions are auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle, replacing conventional delivery. In addition, the Kindle Store has over 200 000 books available to download. The Kindle device is capable of storing about 1 500 books on its 2GB internal memory.
Until now the Kindle has only been available in the USA.
Said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon: "We have millions of customers in countries all over the world who read English-language books. Kindle enables these customers to think of a book and download it wirelessly in less than 60 seconds."
Bezos added that the Kindle, which uses wireless technology to download books and other content, has now been modified to utilise 3G cellular networks.
The device will be available on October 19 for a price of $279 (about R2 100) and must be ordered from Amazon's website.
- Fin24.com