Amazon is to make its Kindle e-book reader available for purchase around the world.

Online retailer Amazon has announced it is to sell its Kindle e-book reader in more than 100 countries including the UK.

The e-book reader has only been available for purchase in the US up until now and Amazon predicts that more than one million units will be sold by the end of the year. It was launched in the US in November 2007.

It is available for pre-order across the world now through the US Amazon website, priced at $279 (£175) and will be shipped out from 19 October onwards.

The Kindle uses 3G wireless technology, which will allow customers to connect to the internet and download books through the Amazon Kindle store. Over 200,000 English-language books are already available for download, including new releases and books on the New York Times bestsellers list.

Kindle will also give users access to more than 85 US and international newspapers and magazines such as The International Herald Tribune and The Daily Telegraph.

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

Leading publishers including Penguin, Faber and Faber, Harlequin, HarperCollins and Bloomsbury have signed up to Kindle.
 
John Makinson, CEO of Penguin, commented: “The publishing industry is experiencing explosive growth in digital book sales in the US and we hope to stimulate digital buying elsewhere by making our content widely available on new devices.”