Amazon Opens UK Kindle Store

Amazon has launched its UK Kindle store, with its bestselling e-book, Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played with Fire, on sale at £2.70, 66% off its list price.

Customers will have to wait until August 27th before Amazon.co.uk starts shipping its new Kindle models in the UK, the e-book store launched this week with more than 400,000 titles available.

The list includes 84 of the Nielsen top 100 bestsellers with only books with heavily illustrated content unavailable.

Andrew Wylie's controversial Odyssey Editions, which the agent is selling directly through Amazon without a publisher, are also on sale. Norman Mailer's The Naked and The Dead is on sale at £4.74 and Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita for £4.84.

The price of The Girl Who Played With Fire contrasts sharply with that of its competitors. At Waterstone's, the same e-book is on sale at £5.49 and at £5.19 at WH Smith. The book is not available at the Apple iBookstore.

If a customer has pre-ordered a Kindle and buys Kindle books between now and when it ships, the titles will already be preloaded on the device.

Greg Greeley, Amazon vice-president for European retail, said: "Amazon.co.uk has been a destination for millions of book customers since 1998 and our new Kindle Store introduces another way for passionate readers to take full advantage of our vast selection and great prices.

"The opening of the UK Kindle store allows customers to buy content in pound sterling and offers a
great shopping experience including UK customer reviews, recommendations, bestseller lists and customer service."

More growth and exposure for the Kindle and Amazon.