Amazon’s Kindle lineup just made its debut in the world’s most populous nation.
Last month, Amazon launched its Android app store in China, and at the time we speculated that might indicate the upcoming launch of the Kindle. Today, Amazon announced the official release of its Kindle e-book reader and Kindle Fire tablets in China, making three devices available from Amazon.cn and retail giant Suning’s stores.
Tech In Asia was first to spot the listings.
The only Kindle devices currently available to Chinese consumers are the Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi and the Kindle Fire HD. Their prices are comparable to what Amazon’s charging in the US, with the Paperwhite costing 846 yuan ($138), and the two Fire models costing 1499 ($244) and 1799 ($293) yuan respectively.
Unlike the US, Amazon is entering the market as something of an underdog, with a number of other companies controlling a significantly larger portion of the e-book market.
This appears to be a part of a growing trend for Amazon of expanding into Asia, after its rollout of a marketplace for third-party sellers in India earlier this week.
Previously on GeekWire: Amazon should introduce AWS to China the Microsoft Way, says China VC
