Amazon Might Soon Kindle The EBook Fire In The UK

Amazon, America's largest online retailer for electronic gadgets, like mobile phones, computers, home theatre and more, have plans of launching their ebook called 'Kindle', in the UK some time soon. It has been heard that the company is joining hands with Qualcomm, to execute the production as well as get a mobile network for the project in the UK. The ebook device had been launched in the US in November 2007. According to Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, ebooks have been achieving 26% of traditional book sales in America.

Apart from being able to download books in WiFi hotspots, Amazon also seems to want the ability to download newspapers, journals, magazines and more via mobile broadband on the Kindle. The US online retailer has reportedly had talks with other magazine/newspaper publishers for arriving on an agreement for this. There was information that the giant retailer had also discussed with network providers like Vodafone and Orange for striking an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) deal, which did not bring fruitful results. It seems like the job is up to Qualcomm now.



If all goes well, the Kindle might most probably see a launch before Christmas, 2009. However, Amazon has not revealed much information yet. A spokesman for the company earlier had mentioned that they had previously announced plans of releasing Kindle into the International market. No time line had been scheduled, though.

In the US, the Amazon Kindle ebook measures 5.3" by 0.7" by 7.5". It houses an SD memory card and the screen presents a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. Currently the Kindle carries a price tag of $299 (~ £183) in the US.