Amazon.com announced today that over 16,000 stores across the US will be selling the new Kindles starting November 15.
Customers who haven’t pre-ordered the Kindle Fire online yet will be able to find one at any Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Staples, Sam’s Club, RadioShack and Office Depot, as well as several other retailers, according to Amazon.
As we reported, Amazon recently updated its Kindle e-readers, which now starts from $79 (see our post TNW Review: Amazon’s newest Kindle, so small and only $79.) Besides this model, the Kindle family also includes the $99 ad-supported Kindle Touch, the $149 Kindle 3G and the $199 Kindle Fire tablet.
Amazon’s announcement comes one day after Barnes & Noble relaunched its Nook e-readers, updating pricing and introducing a brand new Nook Tablet, priced at $249.99 (see our story Barnes & Noble launches Nook Tablet to compete with Kindle Fire and iPad.)
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According to B&N, its devices will hit the stores by the end of the week. It means the bookstore chain will beat Amazon both in terms of availability date and of retail outlets. Although it didn’t specify the number of stores which will carry its products, it mentioned that the Nook devices will be available “online at www.BN.com, as well as at Best Buy, Walmart, Staples, Target, Radio Shack, Books-A-Million, OfficeMax, Fred Meyer, P.C. Richard & Son stores, Fry’s Electronics and Systemax Inc. retailers.”
Availability is one of the points on which B&N hopes to differentiate itself from its competitor. Indeed, the Nook Tablet is clearly aimed at challenging Amazon’s Kindle Fire, offering more storage and more RAM (see our comparison post, ‘Nook Tablet vs. Kindle Fire: does B&N live up to its claims?‘). However, the Kindle Fire remains $50 dollar cheaper, which will certainly weigh on purchase decisions.
Which tablet do you think will be the winning e-reader in the US this Christmas?
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