Amazon slashes Kindle ereader price to $189

Online retail giant Amazon.com announced plans to lower the price of its popular Kindle ereader device from $259 to $189, making the move hours after bookseller chain Barnes & Noble said it will cut the cost of its rival Nook 3G unit from $259 to $199. First introduced in late 2007, the 10.2 ounce Kindle enables consumers to download books, magazines, newspapers and related content via 3G network connection--Amazon's Kindle Store now includes over 600,000 titles, including 109 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers and new releases from $9.99.  Kindle also touts over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books. The device is Amazon's bestselling item overall.

Earlier this month, brick-and-mortar retail chain Target began selling the Kindle across all of its 1,740 U.S. retail locations. The national rollout followed an April trial limited to Target's flagship Minneapolis location as well as 102 stores in the south Florida market, representing the first time the Kindle was available to consumers apart from Amazon's digital storefront.

For more on the Kindle price cut:
- read this release

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