Amazon finally launched a local, Australian Kindle Store today. Australians now have access to 2 million eBooks, of which more than 400,000 are Kindle-exclusives. The content is pretty broad in its scope, ranging from best-selling illustrated children’s books to cookbooks, comics and graphic novels.
Today’s announcement also included the complimentary hardware devices from Amazon, the Kindle Paperwhite, the Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HDX tablets are available in Australia at Dick Smith and Big W stores. Most people who wanted a Kindle will have already worked out a method to obtain one from the US, but as we enter the Christmas period, it’s great timing for local availability.
“Millions of Australians are already Kindle customers, and we’re delighted to make it even easier for them to enjoy the Kindle experience,” said Neil Lindsay, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “The new Kindle Store is customised for Australian customers, with local best sellers and curated lists relevant to Australians, and many titles from local publishers and authors such as Tim Winton, Karly Lane and Kate Morton.”
Australian Kindle Store
Personally I don’t read physical books anymore, so having more electronic options is definitely a plus. It’s important to understand that buying content from the Kindle Store doesn’t require Amazon hardware, in fact, Amazon has one of the best cross-device stories to tell. Kindle reading apps are available for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android phones and tablets, Windows 8 PCs and tablets, PC, and Mac. Whispersync automatically syncs your place across all devices, so you can pick up reading where you left off.
Australian customers can score more than 700,000 books priced at AU$3.99 or less and over 1.4 million priced AU$9.99 or less. Amazon also announced today that independent authors and publishers are now able to make their books available and earn a 70% royalty in the Australian Kindle Store using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) (http://kdp.amazon.com.au).
Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HDX
Amazon also announced that the new Kindle Fire HD is available starting today at a suggested retail price of AU$189 at Dick Smith and Big W stores. The 7” Kindle Fire HDX will be available at a suggested retail price of AU$329 and the 8.9” Kindle Fire HDX will be available starting December 10 at a suggested retail price of AU$479.
Kindle Paperwhite
Amazon recently announced the availability of Kindle Paperwhite in Australia at Dick Smith and Big W at a suggested retail price of AU$159. Kindle Paperwhite is seamlessly integrated with the new Kindle Store—customers can search for a book directly from the device, and start reading it in under 60 seconds.
For more information, please visit http://www.amazon.com.au/
