Amazon brings Kindle and associated ebook shop to France

France is getting the Kindle! No, seriously, until now the land of baguettes and Nicolas Sarkozy has had to make do without the world's most popular ebook reader. Starting today though, our French friends can pre-order a Kindle (no touch and no keyboard) for €99 and have access to over 825,000 titles from the newly launched Kindle store. The first French-language readers from Amazon will start shipping out on October 14th and, if you need some more details, you'll find the full PR after the break.

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Amazon.fr Launches French Kindle Store and First French-Language Kindle

Customers can now buy the all-new Kindle-the lightest, fastest and most affordable Kindle ever-for only 99€ on Amazon.fr

The most best sellers in France with all 28 L'Express best sellers available in digital

LUXEMBOURG, October 7, 2011-(NASDAQ: AMZN)- Amazon.fr today launched the French Kindle Store offering customers a vast selection of over 35,000 French-language Kindle books, all 28 L'Express best sellers available in digital-the most in France-hundreds of popular graphic novels and over 4,000 free classics in French. The new store offers customers over 825,000 titles-including thousands of global best sellers-in English and other languages. Amazon also announced the first French-language Kindle-the smallest, lightest and most affordable Kindle ever-is available on Amazon.fr for only 99€. Amazon.fr customers can pre-order Kindle today on www.amazon.fr/kindle with a release date of October 14.

"French customers are passionate about books and reading, and just as we've seen in the US, UK and Germany, we believe they will love reading on Kindle. We are excited to bring our first French-language Kindle and our new Kindle store to millions of Amazon.fr customers," said Greg Greeley, vice president, Amazon European Retail. "Kindle is already the best-selling e-reader in the world. We kept everything readers love about Kindle-the electronic ink display that reads like real paper, with no glare, even in bright daylight, the convenience of downloading books in less than 60 seconds and Kindle's ability to disappear in your hands so you can get lost in the author's words-and made it lighter, smaller, faster, and more affordable than ever."

The French Kindle Store's vast selection of content includes popular titles from best-selling authors such as Katherine Pancol, Delphine de Vigan, Harlan Coben, Stéphane Hessel, Haruki Murakami, Françoise Bourdin and Michel Houellebecq in a wide range of categories. Customers will also find the largest selection of popular graphic novels available for download including titles from The Largo Winch Series of Francq and Van Hamme, Julia and Roem from Bilal and Walking Dead. Customers can also find top French newspapers and magazines such as Le Monde, Les Echos, Le Figaro, Libération and Aujourd'hui en France/Le Parisien available for single purchase or subscription. Independent authors and publishers can also now use Kindle Direct Publishing to make their books available in Amazon.fr's Kindle Store.

Kindle books are "Buy Once, Read Everywhere" with free Kindle reading apps available for the most popular devices, including iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac and Android-based devices. Amazon Whispersync automatically syncs your place across all devices, so you can pick up reading where you left off. Plus, with Kindle Worry-Free Archive, books you purchase from the Kindle Store, and any notes or annotations you create, are automatically backed up online in your Kindle library on Amazon.fr where they can be re-downloaded wirelessly for free, anytime.

Smallest, Lightest Kindle Ever: The first French-language Kindle is small and light enough to fit in your pocket and take with you everywhere. At only 170 grams, the new Kindle is 30 percent lighter than the previous generation Kindle, weighing less than a typical paperback, and 18 percent smaller while still keeping the same 6-inch e-ink display.

Most Advanced Electronic Ink Display: Kindle's high-contrast electronic ink display delivers clear, crisp text and images. Unlike LCD screens, Kindle reads like real paper, with no glare, even in bright sunlight.

Even Faster Page Turns: Kindle's powerful processor is tuned for 10 percent faster page turns compared to the previous generation Kindle.

Built-In Wi-Fi: The first French-language Kindle has built-in Wi-Fi support.

Books in 60 Seconds: With fast, free wireless delivery, you can start reading books on Kindle in less than 60 seconds.

Holds up to 1,400 Books: Kindle allows you to carry your entire library in your pocket.

No Battery Anxiety – Up To One Month Battery Life: Read for up to one month on a single charge with wireless off.

Free Cloud Storage: Books purchased from the Kindle Store are automatically backed up for free in the Worry-Free Archive where they can be re-downloaded wirelessly, anytime.

"Buy Once, Read Everywhere": Kindle books can be read on Kindles, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, PCs, Macs and Android-based devices.

Whispersync: Amazon Whispersync automatically syncs your place across devices, so you can pick up where you left off.

Free Books: Over 1 million free books in French and foreign languages are available to read on Kindle.

Free Book Samples: First chapters of Kindle books are available to download and read for free before you decide to buy.

Adjustable Fonts: Read comfortably with eight different sizes and three font styles.

Customers can start shopping in the French Kindle Store and learn more about the all-new Kindle with French navigation at www.amazon.fr/kindle.

For high-resolution images of the new 99€ Kindle, visit www.amazon.com/pr/kindle.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes – still with all the benefits of the most advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch, with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle Fire is the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon's new revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core processor.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.