Seattle – Amazon reduced its Kindle e-reader lineup to two models by dropping the $259 Kindle 2 U.S. model from its lineup, citing strong demand for its new international model.
“Due to strong customer demand for the new Kindle with U.S. and international wireless, we are consolidating our family of 6-inch Kindles. As part of this consolidation, we are lowering the price of our Kindle with U.S. and International wireless down to $259,” said a spokesperson.
The International Kindle began shipping last week, originally at $279.
Remaining in the line is the higher end Kindle DX with a larger 9.7-inch screen at $489.
The price reduction follows the announcement this week by Barnes & Noble of a $259 Nook e-Reader, as competition in e-readers heats up. The Nook adds a second 3.5-inch color screen to a 6-inch screen and runs on the Android OS.
Also yesterday, Amazon said it will ship a “Kindle for PC” free software download that lets users buy e-books from Amazon directly from their PC for the first time. It also lets readers switch seamlessly between reading on a Kindle or PC or iPhone and is expected to allow Windows based table PC to double as e-readers.
