Amazon (AMZN) on Wednesday expanded availability of the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 tablet to the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan, while also announcing a price cut for both the Wi-Fi and 4G LTE versions of the slate in the United States. The Wi-Fi only version will be available for $269, down from $299 at launch, while the 4G LTE version will see a price drop of $100 to $399. The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is equipped with an 8.9-inch 1920 × 1200 pixel resolution display, 1GB of RAM and a 1.5GHz dual-core TI OMAP4 processor. Amazon’s press release follows below.
Amazon Launches Kindle Fire HD 8.9” in Europe and Japan; Introduces New, Lower Price
Largest-display, highest-resolution version of Amazon’s best-selling tablet now available in Europe and JapanNew, lower price for Kindle Fire HD 8.9” in the US — starting at just $269 for Wi-Fi and $399 for 4G
SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mar. 13, 2013– (NASDAQ: AMZN) — Amazon today announced that Kindle Fire HD 8.9” — the large-screen version of its best-selling tablet — is now available in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan. With the expansion of Kindle Fire HD 8.9” to Europe and Japan, Amazon also announced it is able to lower the price of Kindle Fire HD 8.9” in the US, with the Wi-Fi version now starting at $269 and the 4G version starting at $399.
“We’re thrilled with customer reaction to Kindle Fire HD 8.9”. Customers tell us they love our large-screen version of Kindle Fire HD for web browsing, email, gaming, watching TV shows, reading magazines, and more,” said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “As we expand Kindle Fire HD 8.9” to Europe and Japan, we’ve been able to increase our production volumes and decrease our costs. Across our business at Amazon, whenever we are able to create cost efficiencies like this, we want to pass the savings along to our customers.”
Kindle Fire HD 8.9” is the highest-resolution, largest-display Kindle Fire. Designed for entertainment, it is perfect for web, apps, movies, games and magazines. Features include:
- Large 8.9” display has the highest resolution of any Kindle Fire (1920×1200, 254 ppi), with rich color and deep contrast; ideal for movies, apps, and gaming.
- Custom Dolby audio and dual stereo speakers for crisp, rich sound.
- Over 23 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, books, and audiobooks.
- The most popular apps and games.
- Ultra-fast web browsing and streaming with built-in dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi.
- Front-facing HD camera for taking photos or making video calls.
- Exceptional battery life — Kindle Fire HD 8.9” gets 10 hours of battery life.
- Easy-to-use e-mail, calendar, and contacts for work or home, including Gmail, Hotmail, Exchange, and more.
- New Amazon-exclusive features like X-Ray for Movies, X-Ray for Textbooks, Immersion Reading, Whispersync for Voice and Whispersync for Games.
- Kindle FreeTime, a free, personalized tablet experience just for kids and exclusively available on Kindle Fire. Parents can set daily screen limits and give access to appropriate content for each child.
- “Buy Once, Enjoy Everywhere” with Amazon apps available on the largest number of platforms so customers can use their Amazon content on any of their devices.
- Amazon’s top-rated, world-class customer service.
