Amazon, Electronics | featured news

Amazon will lower the price of its electronic reader by showing ads as screensavers and at the bottom of the home screen, and by selling special offers.

Amazon.com Inc said sales of its Kindle e-reader were strong over the holiday season amid competition from devices such as Apple Inc's iPad, a computer tablet that also has e-reader capabilities.

Amazon's Kindle is proving popular in China because it allows users to log on to banned websites.

But as you scroll down the list of Kindle offerings, you can't help but notice all of the steamy writing that seems to be targeted at men--an emotionally uncommitted genre which, if not exactly new, is associated with book publishing less commonly than with "Penthouse Forum."

Best Buy will add the Amazon Kindle to its selection of e-book readers.

Apple has sold more than three million iPads since April, but Amazon’s success with the Kindle is cloudier because it doesn’t reveal sales numbers.

Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos cut prices and added features to the Kindle to defend it against a threat from Apple Inc. in the fast- growing market for electronic readers. Amazon introduced two new versions of the device today, including a $139 model that works with Wi-Fi. A second version, with 3G mobile technology as well as Wi-Fi to download books, costs $189. Bloomberg News reported details in May about Amazon’s plans for the Kindle, its bestselling product.

Amazon has sold out of its least expensive Kindle, perhaps providing further evidence of the e-reader's popularity or signaling a new device in the offing.

The e-reader's introduces a new social features. PCMag takes it for a for a test drive.