Amazon announced today that its Kindle ebook reader will be made available to consumers around the world, including South Africa.

The Kindle with its 6" display, 3G wireless technology and abundance of features is a great platform for downloading books, magazines, newspapers and personal documents and reading them in a digital format. The Kindle Store also features more than 200 000 English-language titles, making the platform very appealing indeed.

“We have millions of customers in countries all over the world who read English-language books,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO.  “Kindle enables these customers to think of a book and download it wirelessly in less than 60 seconds.”

The news that Amazon has also cut the price of the reader should be well received as well. Consumers can now buy the device for $279. Amazon is already accepting international pre-orders and will begin shipping units from 19 October 2009. 

Some things to bear in mind:

You will still have to pay customs duties, import taxes and other fees levied by SARS.

The Kindle ships with a U.S. power adapter and a micro-USB cable for charging.

All books and newspapers are priced in US Dollars.

Access to Amazon’s experimental web browser for the Kindle will not be available in South Africa to begin with.

For more information browse to www.amazon.com/kindle.