Kindle ignites new market for sports books

The demise of the book as we know it is almost certainly many years away still but ebook sales are about to enjoy a surge as a price war develops in the ebook reader market.

The latest version of the Amazon Kindle reader will become available in the UK from August 27th, with a Wi-Fi enabled model to retail at £109.

In response, Waterstone's have slashed the price of their Sony Pocket Edition e-book reader to £99.99, making it the cheapest on the market.

For an extra £40, Amazon customers can obtain a Kindle with worldwide 3G connectivity in at the price, with no annual contract or subscription.

The number of sports titles available so far is relatively small but still numbers almost 6,000. Heavily illustrated books are not ideal for a 6ins screen but text-heavy titles will lend themselves to the format well.

The Kindle measures 190mm long and 123mm wide, with a thickness of 8.5mm. At 247 grams, it weighs less than a paperback.

The big advantage over paper is that one device can hold up to 3,500 titles. Ebook prices are generally lower than traditional books and a new purchase can be downloaded in 60 seconds.

Laptop computer users accustomed to batteries that die in 20 minutes might be sceptical but Amazon insists that a Kindle reader can last a full month on a single top-up charge, although that does fall to 10 days if the wireless connection remains switched on.

So far, Amazon lists Start the Car: The World According to Bumble (priced at £9.02) as the best-selling sports title in its Kindle Shop, followed by Matthew Syed’s Bounce (£6.18) and We Were Young and Carefree (£7.69) by Tour de France veteran Laurent Fignon.

Mr Unbelievable, the autobiography of Chris Kamara, priced at £8.07, is the top-selling football title.

Go to Amazon's Kindle Store

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