Amazon launches Kindle e-book reader

The battle for e-books to gain mass acceptance took an interesting turn today as Amazon unveiled its version of a portable e-book reader. Named Kindle (a great pun if ever there were), the slim device will download books wirelessly from Amazon using the Sprint's cellular network. New releases will average $9.99 per download, and users can also subscribe to newspapers and magazines. The reader itself will cost $399, a fee which includes access to the cellular network. Kindle costs $100 more than Sony's competing product.