Amazon.com’s Kindle Fire tablet wasn’t the only new Kindle introduced Wednesday. The retail giant also announced two new eInk eReaders — a Kindle starting at $79 and a Kindle Touch starting at $99.
The Kindle Touch is, as you might expect, a touch-screen eReader. No buttons, no keyboard; the navigation and interaction take place via swiping, tapping or typing the device’s display.
A touch-screen Kindle had been rumored for months and was essentially assured to be on the way after Amazon’s eReader rivals, Nook maker Barnes & Noble and Kobo, released touch-screen devices.
The $99 Kindle is Wi-Fi only and runs advertisements from Amazon’s “Special Offers” service on the Kindle’s lock and home screens. An ad-free version of the Kindle Touch sells for $139, the same price as the touch-screen Nook. The Kobo Touch sells for $129.
The fact that this device also puts Amazon Prime streaming service in your pocket also creates a headache for Netflix:
WSJ reports that some of the new content coming to the Prime Service from Fox includes shows like 24 and movies such as Speed – so not the latest and greatest then? However, knowing that the service will now see a content increase for around 22 percent will be a positive for current and future users. Amazon has no worries about admitting that this new deal has been brought in to compete with Netflix – but is it enough?
We cannot see any reason why not; just look how far Amazon’s Prime Service has come in just 12 months, as they have doubled the amount of content that was available. For those interested in the service, then $79 per year and unlimited two-day shipping on purchases seems a fair deal to us. In other related news, Netflix has now signed a huge deal with Dreamworks. This will now allow customers to start streaming their movies, such as Shrek, Madagascar and many more.
