Source: Xinhua
02-25-2009 15:26
Special Report: Tech MaxBEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- Amazon.com said it began shipping its Kindle 2 e-book reader on Monday, a day earlier than originally planned.
"In order to ensure we ship Kindle 2 by the original ship day of Feb. 24, we started shipping one day early," said Ian Freed, vice president of the Amazon Kindle, in a statement.
The Seattle-based online retailer said the next-generation Kindle, priced at 359 U.S. dollars, is already the No.1 seller on its Electronics website, just a little over two weeks after it had been launched on Feb. 9.
The new Kindle keeps the same price as the first version of the e-reader, but is thinner and includes upgraded features.
The company said the Kindle 2 has been enhanced with 25 percent longer battery life, and the electronic pages turn 20 percent faster on average. It can store more 1,500 books -- instead of 200 in the previous version -- and can read text aloud from two small speakers on its back.
Amazon originally unveiled the Kindle in November 2007. With the Kindle, Amazon hopes to change the publishing industry and the way people read books the same way Apple changed the music industry and the way people listen to music with the iPod.
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Editor:Yang Jie
