Amazon announces ad-supported Kindle 3G

With news being public for a while now that Barnes & Noble was going to be releasing a new e-reader, Amazon will have had ample time to prepare its response. And here it is: an ad-supported Kindle 3G.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, just hours after Barnes & Noble unveiled its new Nook Simple Touch e-reader, Amazon announced the release of the Kindle 3G With Special Offers, coming in at $164, which is $25 less than the cost of the regular Kindle 3G.

Like the Wi-Fi Kindle With Special Offers, currently priced at $114, the Kindle 3G With Special Offers means that anyone opting for the device will have to be comfortable about the inclusion of a few ads with their daily read.

Amazon’s Jay Marine said of the new product: “You will get all the features readers love about Kindle 3G – free 3G wireless, global wireless access, Pearl electronic ink display that’s easy to read even in bright sunlight.” And some ads.

The e-reader market is certainly hotting up just now, with Kobo recently announcing its new Kobo eReader Touch, priced at $129.99 and available early June. Then on Tuesday, from bookseller Barnes & Noble, came the Nook Simple Touch e-reader. Its new device is priced at $139 and shipping is scheduled to begin around June 10.

Of these three e-readers, only the Kindle lacks touchscreen capability. The new Nook and Kobo e-readers, however, have no 3G.

Amazon will be hoping the price of the ad-supported Kindle 3G will be enough to keep potential customers from taking too much interest in the offerings of its competitors. Anyone interested in the new device will be pleased to learn that it’s available from today.

The first Kindle was released in 2007 and the product has gone on to become a huge hit with bookworms around the world. As a result, sales of e-books continue to grow fast, with a recent report revealing that in February, for the first time ever in the US, e-books sold in greater numbers than the more traditional paper-and-ink product.