Amazon announces brand new Kindle Paperwhite eReader

Kindle Paperwhite delivers an uncompromised reading experience—unlike tablets, it’s easy to read in bright sunlight, won’t tire your eyes in the dark, weighs just 7.3 ounces so you can read comfortably for hours with one hand, and has eight weeks of battery life

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sep. 3, 2013– (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Today, Amazon announced that the world’s best-selling e-reader—Kindle Paperwhite—is getting even better. The all-new Kindle Paperwhite features new display technology with higher contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the ground up for readers. Kindle Paperwhite is available for pre-order starting today at www.amazon.com.

“Kindle is the best-selling e-reader in the world for six years running,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “No one is investing on behalf of readers or pushing the boundaries of hardware, software and content for readers like this team: the new Kindle Paperwhite has brand-new display technology, the next generation of our built-in light, a faster processor, plus all of the exclusive benefits of the Kindle ecosystem like Kindle MatchBook, Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, over 400,000 exclusive titles, Goodreads, Kindle Singles, Kindle Worlds, Kindle FreeTime, and much more.”

Kindle Paperwhite combines the best hardware, massive selection, lowest book prices, best reading features, best customer service, personalized recommendations, customer reviews, and more—into one seamlessly integrated service for customers. This is the reason Kindle owners read four times as many books—print and eBooks—as they do prior to owning a Kindle.

Here’s what makes the all-new Kindle Paperwhite better than ever:

• New display technology with higher contrast—Kindle Paperwhite’s display is the most advanced e-reader display ever constructed. Higher contrast and better reflectivity means whites are whiter and blacks are blacker, so the pages are virtually indistinguishable from a physical book. You won’t find this level of contrast with any other e-reader display.
• Next generation built-in light—Guides light toward the surface of the display so you can read comfortably without eyestrain.
• New, 25% faster processor—Books open and pages turn faster for a seamless reading experience.
• New touch technology—19% tighter touch grid makes Kindle Paperwhite respond even more accurately to the smallest touches.
• New Kindle Page Flip—Skim page-by-page, scan by chapter, or skip to the end of your book, all without losing your place. For example, it’s now easy to quickly flip back and forth to that map of Beyond the Wall in A Dance With Dragons. See a screenshot:www.amazon.com/kindle-page-flip.
• New Goodreads Integration—Combines the world’s largest e-reading community and the world’s largest community of book lovers. Join over 20 million other readers and see what your friends are reading, share highlights, and rate the books you read with Goodreads on Kindle, available exclusively from Amazon. See screenshots: www.amazon.com/kindle-goodreads.
• New Kindle FreeTime—Built-in parental controls have been extended to give parents a simple, engaging way to encourage kids to spend more time reading. Hand-select books for your kids to read, and hand out achievement badges when they hit reading milestones. A progress report keeps parents updated on total time spent reading, number of words looked up, badges earned and books finished. See screenshots: www.amazon.com/new-kindle-freetime.
• New Vocabulary Builder—Compiles words you look up in the dictionary into an easy-to-access list. Use these lists to quiz yourself with flashcards and instantly see words in context. See screenshots: www.amazon.com/kindle-vocabulary.
• New Smart Lookup—Integrates a full dictionary definition with other reference information about a word, character, topic or book via X-Ray and Wikipedia. For example, using an ordinary dictionary to look up “credit default swaps” in Michael Lewis’ The Big Short would give the individual definitions of “credit,” “default” and “swaps.” Smart Lookup recognizes this is an important topic and phrase in the book, and gives you the correct definition of “credit default swaps” via X-Ray. See a screenshot: www.amazon.com/kindle-lookup.
• New In-line Footnotes—With a single tap, read the complete text of each footnote in-line without changing the page or losing your place in the book. See a screenshot: www.amazon.com/kindle-footnotes.
• New Kindle MatchBook—New benefit lets customers purchase Kindle editions of print books purchased from Amazon—past, present and future—for $2.99 or less.

The Goodreads and FreeTime features will be delivered later this year as part of a free software update.

Kindle Paperwhite still includes all of the features that helped make Kindle the best-selling e-reader in the world for six years running:

• Reads like real paper—No-glare display for perfect reading, even in bright sunlight.
• 8 weeks of battery life—Read for weeks, not hours, on a single charge.
• Weighs just 7.3 ounces—Hold comfortably in one hand for long reading sessions.
• Built-in Wi-Fi and free 3G—Think of a book and be reading it in under 60 seconds.
• Massive selection—Millions of books, newspapers and magazines, including the latest best sellers, Kindle Singles, and more.
• Kindle exclusives—Over 400,000 books are exclusive to the Kindle Store.
• Lowest book prices—Over a million titles are $4.99 or less, over 1.7 million are $9.99 or less.
• Kindle Owners’ Lending Library—Prime members who own a Kindle can choose from hundreds of thousands of books to borrow for free, as frequently as a book a month, with no waiting and no due dates.
• Carry over a thousand books—Never leave a favorite book behind.
• No setup required—Kindle arrives pre-registered so you can start reading immediately.
• Whispersync—Saves and synchronizes your last page read, bookmarks and annotations across all of your devices, so you can always pick up where you left off.
• Worry-Free Archive—Automatically backs up your Kindle books in the cloud, so you never need to worry about losing your books—re-download your books wirelessly anytime for free.
• X-Ray—Explore the “bones of a book”—see all of the passages across a book that mention relevant ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places or topics of interest.
• Time to Read—Tells you how much time it will take to finish a chapter or a book based on your personalized reading speed. See a screenshot: www.amazon.com/time-to-read.
• Facebook and Twitter—Share book recommendations, highlighted sections and meaningful quotes with friends.

All of these features combine to make Kindle Paperwhite the best device, and the best service, for reading. Unlike tablets, Paperwhite reads like real paper even in bright sunlight, won’t tire your eyes in the dark, weighs just 7.3 ounces so you can read comfortably with one hand, and has a battery that lasts for weeks, not hours. That’s why many people buy both a tablet and a Paperwhite. Here’s what customers have to say:

• “First of all, reading on a Kindle is a great experience—in my humble opinion it is much better than reading on a tablet or phone. There is something about the way the screen works that seems magical and you want to keep reading it.” – RA “Bob”
• “Anyone who LOVES to read, should own a Paperwhite. I love my Kindle Fire, but I wanted to read outside in bright sunlight, so I decided to try the Paperwhite—it is wonderful, so easy to read, could not believe how easy to read.” – Connyane
• “I have had this (Paperwhite) for around a month, and the battery lasts ages, it is very durable even without a cover, and has reduced my eyestrain from reading off of a tablet considerably. I did not realize how sore my tablet was making my eyes until I started reading with this.” – Mauro
• “I already had a Kindle Fire that I loved but I bought this for my vacation because last year I could not read the Kindle Fire in the sun. This was better than I thought because it is super light, super easy to read.” – Helen
• “The reading experience is much better than that from using a tablet or a smartphone…if you like to read a lot you definitely need a Kindle, and the best one available is the Paperwhite.” –Gonzalo
• “Sure, you can get LCD based readers like the Kindle Fire or iPad, but when it comes to crisp reading on a light device with long battery life, this is the one you have got to get.” – Jagadeesh
• “I use tablets for everything but reading books. For that I vastly prefer Kindles due to more natural experience, better portability and less eye strain.” – Klopus
• “I have read off my husband’s iPad and it is not the same at all, my eyes get tired super-fast. But I can read my Kindle for 2 hours straight (and often do) with no eyestrain at all.” – amf0001
• “Reading on the Kindle Paperwhite is exponentially better than on a tablet. It is bliss to be able to enjoy an eBook while sipping an espresso outdoors in the afternoon and then just keep on reading through sunset till the moon rises. The e-ink screen, long battery life and relatively low price frees you to enjoy your books anywhere. It performs well under any lighting condition so I find myself just reading books all the time.” – Joseph

The new Kindle Paperwhite is only $119. Kindle Paperwhite is available for pre-order starting today at www.amazon.com and begins shipping September 30. The new top-of-the-line Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi + 3G is only $189. Customers can sign up to be notified when Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi + 3G is available for pre-order at www.amazon.com. Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi + 3G is expected to ship November 5.

For high resolution images and video of the new Kindle Paperwhite, visit www.amazon.com/pr/kindle.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the world’s best-selling and most advanced e-reader. It features new display technology with higher contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the ground up for readers. Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, features improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD features a stunning custom high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end, laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support, dual-antennas and MIMO for faster streaming and downloads, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine – and it is available in two display sizes – 7” and 8.9”. The large-screen Kindle Fire HD is also available with 4G wireless. The all-new Kindle Fire features a 20% faster processor, 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it,www.amazon.es, www.amazon.com.br, amazon.in and www.amazon.com.mx. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

The 3G device has not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com’s financial results is included in Amazon.com’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.