Amazon's Kindle 3G with Offers one-ups B&N's touchscreen Nook

Within hours of rival bookseller Barnes & Noble unveiling its $139 All-New Nook touchscreen e-reader, Amazon.com responded with a new 3G-enabled version of its ad-supported Kindle with Special Offers unit.

Amazon's Kindle 3G with Offers has been reduced to $164, down $190.

Priced at $164--down from the $190 ad-free version and the lowest price of any 3G e-reader, Amazon claims--Kindle 3G with Offers touts free wireless connectivity with no annual contract or monthly fee, enabling consumers to download e-books in under 60 seconds across 100 international markets.

Six weeks following its retail introduction, the original Kindle with Special Offers is the bestselling Kindle device in the U.S., Amazon reports. Priced at $114, $25 off the conventional Kindle unit, the ad-supported Kindle with Special Offers incorporates homescreen deals and sponsored screensavers. Amazon has vowed it will not integrate ads directly into Kindle titles.

The Kindle Store now boasts more than 950,000 titles. Last week, Amazon.com said it now sells more Kindle books than hardcover and softcover volumes combined: As of April 1, Amazon consumers purchase 105 Kindle titles for every 100 print books. Amazon notes the figure includes sales of hardcover and paperback books for where there is no corresponding Kindle edition, and it also excludes free Kindle releases. In all, Amazon has sold three times the number of Kindle books in 2011 than it did during the same period a year ago.

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