Amazon launches Kindle e-book
Story by Alison Flood writing in The Bookseller today:

Amazon.com launched its long-awaited Amazon Kindle today in the US, priced at $399. No UK launch is scheduled at the moment. The device allows users to wirelessly download books, blogs, magazines and newspapers to a high-resolution paper display which it says is as easy to read as printed paper.

It already has 90,000 books available on the Kindle Store, priced at $9.99 unless marked otherwise, and says it is adding new titles to the store every day. Publishers and authors can submit their own content and make it available to Kindle customers by using Amazon’s new Digital Text Platform, which allows anyone to upload and sell their books in the Kindle Store."We’ve been working on Kindle for more than three years. Our top design objective was for Kindle to disappear in your hands—to get out of the way—so you can enjoy your reading," said Amazon.com c.e.o. Jeff Bezos. "We also wanted to go beyond the physical book. Kindle is wireless, so whether you're lying in bed or riding a train, you can think of a book, and have it in less than 60 seconds. No computer is needed—you do your shopping directly from the device. We’re excited to make Kindle available today."

The Kindle weighs 10.3 ounces and fits in one hand, with full-length, vertical page-turning buttons located on both sides of the device. Users can leave the device's wireless connectivity on and recharge approximately every other day, or turn the wireless off and read for a week or more before recharging. The Kindle fully recharges in two hours. It also allows users to add annotations to text, and automatically bookmarks the last page a customer reads. It has six adjustable font sizes.

Technology website Engadget is already reporting consumer reaction to the device, after reporting live from the "launch event".
One user said: "See I was going to buy this thing until I found out it was $400 and that the books are going to have DRM on them."
Another added: "I think I could get used to reading e-books vs paper books, but certainly not on this device. I don't mind the up-front cost so much as the cost per book. $10 for each book? $10? Really??"
A third said: "The looks and form factor of the device can and will change over time, but the basic idea behind this product is sound. The biggest problem is the whopping $399 price tag."
One summed up earlier user sentiment: "Amazon doesn't make that many mis-steps, but boy this is SO gonna be one of them."

FOOTNOTE

Doesn't hold any appeal to me but I'll check them out in NYC at Christmas.