Amazon quietly launches the Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD in the UK, Italy, France & more [Updated]

After plenty of waiting, Amazon has finally launched its Kindle Fire and the new Kindle Fire HD in the UK. Keep in mind, the Fire models have never been available outside the US, so this is a welcome change to residents. More than anything, it signals further international expansion, which hopefully will accelerate its current, slow pace.

Update: A reader has pointed out to us that these devices are also available in Italy. We can also confirm that France, Germany and other areas are also seeing the rollout.

As Eurodroid reports, the new Kindle Fire HD will start at £159 for the 16GB model. Right now we only have an arrival date for the 7″ version, but odds are, the larger 8.9″ model will follow suit. There’s no word on the Kindle Paperwhite.

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As far as the original, upgraded Kindle Fire, it will be launching in the UK for £129 and pre-orders are now live. Purchases include one month’s free trial to LoveFilm, Amazon’s European equivalent to its Instant Video service, which it acquired in January 2011.

Here an excerpt of the Amazon UK announcement:

Pricing and Availability
The all-new Kindle Fire HD with a stunning HD display, the fastest Wi-Fi, exclusive HD audio with two stereo speakers and Dolby Digital Plus, 16 or 32 GB of storage and powerful world-class processor—all backed by Amazon’s vast content ecosystem, the best cross-platform interoperability and the best customer service is £159. Kindle Fire HD is available for pre-order starting today at www.amazon.co.uk/kindlefirehd and ships on October 25th

The new, latest generation Kindle Fire with a faster processor for 40% faster performance, twice the memory and all the new features is only £129, and is available for pre-order starting today at www.amazon.co.uk/kindlefire and ships on October 25th.

This news follows today’s Kindle event in LA, which led to numerous updates and launches. For a closer look at these devices, take a peek below at TNW’s quick video overview:

For more about the event, check out our roundup of everything you need to know.

h/t @Timbo_UK