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Tuesday, 20th November 2012
In General Japan News, Japan Entertainment News,
Kindle Paperwhite now sold in Japan
People around Japan can now buy the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, which began shipping yesterday (November 19th).
Kindle is currently the "world's most popular e-reader and the most advanced e-reader ever constructed", according to its maker.
The technology boasts a higher resolution with 62 per cent more pixels and 25 per cent higher contrast than the older versions.
It has a built-in front light, up to eight weeks of battery life and is slimmer and more streamlined than previous generations.
Currently selling for 8,480 yen (£65.25) on the firm's website, customers can also buy the new kindle with Wi-Fi and 3G for 12,980 yen (£100).
One of Kindle's biggest rivals is Kobo, the domestic e-reader manufactured by Rakuten.
However Amazon is confident of the popularity of the Kindle Paperwhite stating that it's more than just a device, but it is also a service.
The customer receives it pre-registered to their Amazon account and "greets them by name". There is no long set-up process and no syncing required, said the company.
This follows the recent launch of the Kindle Store on its national website.
It stated that most titles from the week's Oricon top100 books, top 50 bunko and top 100 manga lists would be available.
A total of more than 50,000 Japanese-language Kindle books, including over 10,000 free Japanese titles would be available in the store. Collectively more than one million books would be available to customers, the firm explained.
“After twelve years of selling print books on Amazon.co.jp, we are excited to offer the millions of Amazon.co.jp customers the new Kindle Store, with the largest selection of the books people want to read," stated Amazon chief executive officer and founder, Jeff Bezos.
Titles can be accessed with the Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Fire, Android phone or tablet, iPhone or iPad, explained the founder.
Posted by Susan Ballion
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