Amazon takes Kindle global

       Amazon.com Inc is introducing Kindle, its wireless electronic reader, for over 100 countries, including China and most of Europe, intensifying a battle for the burgeoning digital book market.
       The move, announced on Tuesday,gives the world's largest online retailer the widest global reach among its competitors, including chief rival Sony Corp.
       The Kindle will sell for $279 in other countries.
       Amazon also said it would cut prices for its US-only Kindle by 13% to $259 from $299, bringing its cost closer to its rivals. The new price is $100 lower than it was a year ago.
       Amazon - which regards the Kindle as a pivotal growth driver - said over 200,000 English-language books from a host of publishers as well as more than 85 international and US newspapers and magazines would be available on the international device, which begins shipping October 19.
       "Our vision for Kindle is every book ever printed, in print or out of print, in every language, all available within 60 seconds," chief executive Jeff Bezos told Reuters.
       "That's a multi-decade vision," he said.
       Analysts have pondered the likelihood of Amazon developing the Kindle into a tablet-like device for tasks like e-mailing,texting and surfing the Web, thus competing with devices reportedly being developed by Apple Inc.
       But Bezos reiterated his intention to optimise the reading experience, saying the company rejected compromise,whether it be a touchscreen that affects legibility or computer displays that eat up too much power.
       At the same time, Amazon is working on making Kindle digital books available on more devices. Besides the Kindle,those books can now be accessed on the iPhone or iPod Touch.
       "We want you to read your Kindle books on laptops and smartphones, anything with an installed base," Bezos said.
       The Amazon CEO said he was not "in principle" against making the works available on rival devices like Sony's,but was focused on platforms with "large installed bases."
       E-readers are expected by some to be the hottest gadget this holiday season and Bezos said he had "a lot of confidence" that it would be a "great holiday quarter for Kindle."
       Forrester Research estimated three million e-reader devices would be sold in the United States in 2009, up from an earlier estimate of two million. That could double in 2010, bringing cumulative sales to 10 million by end-2010.
       The research group predicts that Amazon will take 60% market share in 2009,followed by Sony at 35%.
       Amazon, which introduced the Kindle in 2007, has until now made it only available in the United States, where it sold a basic version for $299 and a larger one geared toward newspapers for $489.The Kindle is only sold on Amazon.com.
       The international version includes technology allowing it to operate in each market, but is otherwise identical to the second iteration of the Kindle - which can store up to 1,500 books, has a textto-speech feature, and can read PDF files and allow users to make annotations.
       "There is a big demand for English language books all over the world," said Bezos, adding that it would be available in every continent except Antarctica.
       "We apologise for that omission. We'll work on that."