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Kindle Paperwhite and two Fires up for pre-order in Japan, Kindle Store opens there tomorrow

Amazon's just announced that it's bringing the entire Kindle family to Japan. The basic Paperwhite is now available to pre-order for 8,480 yen (around $106) from the online retailer, with the 3G version arriving at a slightly pricier 12,980 yen (approximately $162) -- both will start shipping November 19th. Obviously you're going to need stuff to read, so the Kindle Store is opening its doors tomorrow and shelves are stocked with over 50,000 Japanese language books (including 10,000 for free) and more than 15,000 manga titles. Amazon's tablet range is heading to Japan as well, with the Fire costing 12,800 yen (approximately $160) and the 7-inch Fire HD setting wallets back 15,800 yen (almost $200). You'll have to wait a bit longer for these two, however, as shipping is slated to begin December 19th -- hopefully arriving in time to fill those stockings.

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Amazon.co.jp Introduces Japanese Kindle Store and Kindle Paperwhite, the First Japanese-Language Kindle

Japanese customers can now buy Kindle Paperwhite, the world's most popular e-reader and the most advanced e-reader ever constructed: higher resolution, 62% more pixels 25% higher-contrast than the previous generation Kindle, unique built-in front light, 8 weeks of battery life and an even slimmer and sleeker design-only ¥8,480 on Amazon.co.jp

New Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi + 3G-the top-of-the-line Kindle with free 3G wireless-only ¥12,980

New Kindle Store on Amazon.co.jp offers the largest selection of the most popular books, including over 50,000 Japanese-language Kindle books, the largest number of Oricon best sellers and over 15,000 manga titles

Kindle books are "Buy Once, Read Everywhere"-Introducing free Japanese Kindle reading apps for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android phones and Android tablets

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 24, 2012-- (NASDAQ: AMZN)-Amazon.co.jp today announced that the new Kindle Paperwhite-the world's most popular e-reader-is coming to Japan. Kindle Paperwhite offers 62% more pixels and 25% higher contrast compared to the previous generation Kindle, a unique built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, a beautiful new manga experience, up to 8 weeks of battery life, and a thin and light design for just ¥8,480. Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi + 3G-the all-new top-of-the-line Kindle e-reader with free 3G wireless-never pay for or hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot-is just ¥12,980. The new Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi + 3G are available starting today for pre-order at www.amazon.co.jp/kindlepaperwhite and will begin shipping on November 19.

Amazon also today announced the Kindle Store on Amazon.co.jp, offering customers the largest selection of digital best sellers in Japan, with the most titles from this week's Oricon top 100 books, top 50 bunko, and top 100 manga lists and a total of over 50,000 Japanese-language Kindle books including over 10,000 free Japanese titles and a broad selection of works from a wide range of leading Japanese authors and publishers. In total, the store offers over one million titles, including the largest selection of best sellers in English and other languages. For fans of manga, Kindle delivers the best experience, rendered beautifully on Kindle Paperwhite, and with the largest number of manga best sellers and over 15,000 manga titles overall. The Japanese Kindle Store will launch on October 25.

"After twelve years of selling print books on Amazon.co.jp, we are excited to offer the millions of Amazon.co.jp customers the new Kindle Store, with the largest selection of the books people want to read, the largest selection of Oricon best sellers in books, bunko, and manga, and over 50,000 Japanese-language titles-all available to anyone with a Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Fire, Android phone, Android tablet, iPhone, or iPad," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. "Kindle Paperwhite is the Kindle e-reader we have always wanted to build-it has 62% more pixels and 25% higher contrast than the previous generation Kindle, built-in front light, perfect for reading in bed or in sunlight, even thinner, with 8 weeks of battery life."

New Japanese Kindle Store-Largest Selection of Best Sellers

The leading best seller selection in the Japanese Kindle Store includes popular book titles such as "Mitsukuni Den," "Tsunagu," and "Jinsei Ga Tokimeku Katazuke No Maho 2" and works from authors such as Arimasa Osawa with his entire "Shinjukuzame" series, and Yusuke Kishi with the special limited edition of his best-selling fiction "Shinsekai Yori" only available at Amazon, with a total of 68 exclusive titles. Manga titles include the latest best seller series "Magi," "Termae Romae," and the world-famous "Neon Genesis Evangelion," of which the latest volume # 13 comes out on Nov. 2 and is available for digital pre-order only at Amazon. The 50,000 Japanese-language titles come from a wide range of publishers small and large, including Bungeishunju, Gentosha, Kadokawa, Kodansha, Shinchosha, Shogakukan and Shueisha, all of whom have worked with Amazon to make their titles available in the Kindle Store.

Kindle Paperwhite-The World's Most Advanced E-Reader

Reviews of Kindle Paperwhite are overwhelmingly positive and reinforce that Kindle Paperwhite is the best e-reader in the world:

"So, do all of these features add up to the best e-reader out there? In a syllable: yep. Amazon was clearly focused on creating the best possible reading experience with the Paperwhite, and it's delivered." – Engadget
"Forget Everything Else, This Is the E-Reader You Want." – Gizmodo
"The Kindle Paperwhite is a reader's dream...I'm wildly impressed with the simplicity and beauty of this device." – TechCrunch
"It's light, eminently pocketable, and presents the best electronic reading experience." – Wired
"Amazon has brightened the picture for readers with Kindle Paperwhite--quite literally and in more ways than one." – USA Today
"With an excellent built-in light and Amazon's best-in-class ebook selection, the Kindle Paperwhite rises to the top of the e-reader pack." – CNet
"The Screen Makes It the Best E-Reader Yet" – Time

Kindle Paperwhite is a Service

Kindle Paperwhite is more than just a device-it's a service. When a customer orders a Kindle Paperwhite, it arrives pre-registered to their Amazon account and greets them by name. All of the customer's Kindle content is there waiting for them to download and start reading-no long set-up process, and no syncing with a cable. Kindle Paperwhite also comes with instant access to the Kindle Store right from the device, including all of the features customers love about shopping on Amazon-personalized recommendations, customer reviews, one-click purchasing and more. Whenever customers shop on Amazon.co.jp, buy a Kindle, or buy Kindle content, they know that they are also getting Amazon's world-class customer service. Customers have been shopping on Amazon.co.jp for 12 years, and they continue to do so because of the unparalleled, end-to-end customer experience.

Most Advanced E-Reader Display, 62% More Pixels, 25% More Contrast

Kindle Paperwhite's display is the most advanced e-reader display ever constructed. Featuring a 212 ppi display, Kindle Paperwhite has 62% more pixels than the previous generation Kindle, making text in books crisp and clear at any size. Images are sharper, richer and show even more detail. Kindle Paperwhite's screen has 25% higher contrast than the previous generation Kindle-the blacks are blacker, and the whites are whiter. Because Kindle Paperwhite uses electronic ink rather than an LCD display, customers can read anywhere, even in bright sunlight, without glare.

Innovative Built-In Light

Backlit LCD displays direct light up through the display into the user's eyes. Kindle Paperwhite's patented front-lit display guides light underneath an anti-glare layer and down toward the display, away from the reader's eyes. This allows a reader to read for hours without eye fatigue or strain. The screen brightness is easily adjusted for reading in any light. The Paperwhite display provides an unparalleled reading experience in the dark and in direct sunlight.

Breakthrough Battery Life

Kindle Paperwhite's built-in front light is designed to be used at all times-both in daylight and in a dark room-for the clearest, crispest reading experience. In order to use the light at all times, Kindle Paperwhite requires exceptional power management to maintain the battery life that customers love about Kindle. Amazon's light guide technology precisely diffuses the light across the screen and only requires four LEDs to light the entire screen (unlike LCD screens which can use up to 50 LEDs). The light guide is so efficient that Kindle Paperwhite has a remarkable 8 weeks of battery life, even with the light on at all times.

No Setup Required, Simple and Easy-to-Use

Kindle Paperwhite comes automatically pre-registered so customers can immediately start enjoying their existing Kindle library or shop for new content, with no set-up required.

Free 3G

Kindle Paperwhite's free domestic 3G connection through NTT DoCoMo means customers don't have to hunt for or pay for a Wi-Fi hotspot-they simply download and read books anytime. Amazon pays for the 3G connection on Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi + 3G, so customers pay no monthly fees and sign no annual contracts.

Built-In Wi-Fi

Kindle Paperwhite comes with built-in Wi-Fi, letting readers discover new content at home or on the go.

Books in 60 Seconds

Find a book and start reading in seconds with our fast, free wireless delivery. No computer required to download content.

New Touch Technology

Kindle Paperwhite's new capacitive touch technology is uniquely integrated into the Paperwhite display, allowing for a thinner design for Kindle Paperwhite and even better touch accuracy.

Slim and Sleek Design

At just over 9.1mm thin and weighing 213 grams, Kindle Paperwhite is thinner than a magazine. The bezel height between the side of the device and the display itself is 77% thinner, making it incredibly easy to read with one hand.

Hand-Tuned Fonts

Every font on Kindle Paperwhite is hand-tuned for maximum readability. The Amazon typography team worked at the pixel level to ensure consistency of stroke thickness and shape profiles across all individual glyphs, aligning each size to the pixel grid of the new Paperwhite display. This allows for unprecedented sharpness of fonts. Kindle Paperwhite's higher resolution display portrays all of the fine details even in complex characters, which would not render well on a lower resolution e-reader display.

Manga

Kindle Paperwhite brings the exclusive Kindle Panel View experience to Manga. Finely-tuned image processing algorithms render each image beautifully while keeping page turns responsive. Each image is carefully rendered to recreate and improve on the manga experience on paper. The high resolution display combined with the higher contrast on Kindle Paperwhite allows the display of beautiful manga pages. A user can read Manga just like a book, or select Kindle Panel View to zoom in and enjoy the details of each page.

Unparalleled Interoperability-"Buy Once, Read Everywhere"

With the free Kindle reading apps, customers can read their Kindle books on the largest number of devices or platforms. The Kindle reading apps will be available for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android phones and Android tablets starting October 25.

Whispersync

Amazon's Whispersync technology synchronizes a customer's last page read, bookmarks and annotations across all of their devices, so they can always pick up where they left off.

Top-Rated, World-Class Customer Service

Whenever customers shop on Amazon.co.jp, buy a Kindle, or buy Kindle content, they know that they are also getting Amazon's world-class customer service. Customers have been shopping on Amazon.co.jp for 12 years, and they continue to do so because of the unparalleled, end-to-end customer experience.

Time to Read

Time to Read is a new feature for Kindle Paperwhite that helps readers know the amount of time it will take them to finish a chapter or a book. This feature is smart-it personalizes the time for each customer based on their reading speed and is constantly updated as the reader's speed and habits change. With Time to Read, it's never been easier to decide when to start a new chapter or finish the chapter you're reading.

Features Built Just for Readers

Each Kindle offers a variety of font styles and sizes, so customers can easily customize their reading experience. Kindle Paperwhite also comes with access to both a Japanese dictionary and an English to Japanese translation dictionary in addition to instant lookup and translation of words, Real Page Numbers, support for bookmarks and annotations, and more.

Dictionary Lookups

To ensure a streamlined dictionary experience for Japanese customers, when a book is downloaded, Amazon provides pre-analyzed information that improves the word lookup experience. This allows for faster access to dictionary lookups and features such as translation, Wikipedia and sharing.

Worry-Free Cloud Storage

Customers' Kindle books are automatically backed up in the cloud, so they can re-download their books wirelessly for free.

Sharing

Customers can share highlighted sections, notes and meaningful quotes on Facebook and Twitter directly from Kindle without leaving the book.

Parental Controls

Parental Controls allow parents to restrict access to the Kindle Store, Cloud Archive and the Experimental Web Browser so they can give their Kindle to a child worry-free.

Beautiful Leather Covers with Auto Wake and Sleep

Covers for Kindle Paperwhite feature a premium textured leather exterior and a subtle woven nylon interior to provide the lightest and thinnest form of protection. The integrated magnetic clasp ensures the cover remains securely closed while in a backpack, handbag, or briefcase. The cover automatically wakes Kindle Paperwhite upon opening and puts it to sleep when closed, making it easy to dive right back into the book.

Pricing and Availability

The new Kindle Paperwhite is available for pre-order today for only ¥8,480 and ships on November 19. For more information visit www.amazon.co.jp/kindlepaperwhite.

The new top-of-the-line Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi + 3G is also available for pre-order today for only ¥12,980 and ships on November 19. For further information visit www.amazon.co.jp/kindlepaperwhite3G.

Kindle Paperwhite will be available at a variety of retailers in addition to Amazon.co.jp, including: K's Holdings, Bic Camera, Joshin Denki, and Kitamura, as well as at a variety of TSUTAYA bookstores.

For high resolution images and video of the all-new Kindle family, visit www.amazon.com/pr/kindle.

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Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire Now Available for Pre-Order at Amazon.co.jp, Shipping December 19

Kindle Fire HD-latest generation of the world's best-selling 7" tablet-with a stunning customized HD display, the fastest Wi-Fi, exclusive Dolby audio, powerful processor and graphics engine, 11 hours of battery life, and 16 GB of storage-all backed by the best content ecosystem, the best cross-platform interoperability, and the best customer service-now available on Amazon.co.jp for only ¥15,800

Kindle Fire also available with a faster processor, twice the memory, and longer battery life than the previous generation Kindle Fire, at a breakthrough price-only ¥12,800, the lowest price of any full-featured tablet

Both Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire offer instant access to Amazon's vast selection of over 22 million books, manga, apps, games and songs, plus web browsing, email and more

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 24, 2012-- (NASDAQ:AMZN)-Today, Amazon.co.jp is excited to announce that the all-new Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD are coming to Japan, giving Japanese customers access to Amazon's vast selection of over 22 million books, manga, apps, games and songs, plus web browsing, email and more. Kindle Fire for ¥12,800 and Kindle Fire HD for ¥15,800 are available for pre-order today and will begin shipping December 19. Kindle Fire HD is already the #1 best-selling item in the world for Amazon.

Kindle Fire HD is the latest generation of the world's best-selling 7" tablet. Features include:

  • Stunning customized HD display with in-plane switching, Advanced True Wide polarizing filter and customized laminated touch sensor for 25% less glare with rich color and deep contrast from any viewing angle.

  • Fastest Wi-Fi of any tablet-dual antenna, dual-band, and MIMO-40% faster downloads, compared to the next fastest tablet.

  • High-performance processor and graphics engine for snappy and smooth performance.

  • Exceptional battery life-over 11 hours.

  • Front-facing HD camera with customized Skype application for video calling from anywhere in the world.

  • Dual stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus audio-the standard in high-end audio-available for the first time on a tablet.

  • 16 GB or 32 GB of local storage, enough to accommodate the larger file sizes of HD content.

  • Amazon's vast content ecosystem-over 22 million books, manga, apps, games and songs.

  • Best cross-platform interoperability, with Amazon apps available on the largest number of devices and platforms so customers can access content anytime, anywhere.

  • Amazon.co.jp's top-rated, world-class customer service. Whenever customers shop on Amazon.co.jp, buy a Kindle, or buy Kindle content, they know that they are also getting Amazon's world-class customer service. Customers have been shopping on Amazon.co.jp for 12 years, and they continue to do so because of the unparalleled, end-to-end customer experience.

Amazon.co.jp is also introducing an all-new upgraded version of the best-selling standard definition Kindle Fire with a faster processor, twice the memory and longer battery life than the original Kindle Fire-all for an even lower breakthrough price-only ¥12,800. Meet the all-new Kindle Fire family at www.amazon.co.jp/kindlefirehd.

"Kindle Fire HD is already the #1 best-selling item in the world for Amazon, and we're thrilled to make it available for the first time in Japan. It features a stunning customized HD display, the fastest Wi-Fi, exclusive Dolby audio, powerful processor and graphics engine, 16 or 32 GB of storage and 11 hours of battery life," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. "Not only does Kindle Fire HD feature the most advanced hardware, it's also a service. When combined with our unmatched content ecosystem, unmatched cross-platform interoperability, and standard-setting customer service, we hope people will agree that Kindle Fire HD is the best 7" tablet available anywhere, at any price."

World-Class Hardware

Stunning Customized HD Display

The Kindle Fire HD features a stunning HD display with 1280x800 resolution that delivers deep, detailed contrast and rich, natural color. Kindle Fire HD starts with excellent resolution, but that is only the beginning-Amazon also added customized features that reduce glare and improve color saturation at any viewing angle. Most tablet displays are made up of two pieces of glass-an LCD on the bottom and a touch sensor on the top, separated by an air gap. This air gap allows light to come through the touch sensor and reflect off the LCD, which causes added glare for the user. Kindle Fire HD solves this air gap problem by laminating the touch sensor and the LCD together into a single layer of glass, creating a display that's easy to view even in overhead light, and reducing glare by 25% relative to iPad 3. Like many tablets, Kindle Fire HD uses in-plane switching (IPS) to improve color reproduction. However, displays that only use IPS still appear washed out at various angles, such as when laid sideways in bed, flat on a table, or propped up in a case. Kindle Fire HD features an Advanced True Wide polarizing filter that is applied directly to the LCD panel. This results in a display that shows the same deep contrast and rich, detailed color from any angle.

High-End Laptop-Quality Wi-Fi

HD content has much larger file sizes than standard definition content. Files of this size require the very latest in Wi-Fi technology to download HD content quickly and reliably-anything else results in buffering, slow downloads and dropped connections. Many Wi-Fi enabled devices only use the 2.4 GHz wireless frequency. This frequency is crowded since it is used by everything from other tablets to microwave ovens, baby monitors, Bluetooth devices, not to mention the neighbors' Wi-Fi networks. Kindle Fire HD circumvents this congestion with state-of-the-art dual-band Wi-Fi. Kindle Fire HD can switch automatically between the 2.4 GHz network and the newer, less crowded 5 GHz network, resulting in better range and less interference. In addition, dual antennas and Multiple In/Multiple Out (MIMO) allow for higher bandwidth and longer range. The new Kindle Fire HD is the first tablet to market with all three of these latest generation Wi-Fi technologies-dual-band support, dual antennas, and MIMO. This is the first time this state-of-the-art Wi-Fi technology has been offered in a tablet, resulting in 40% faster throughput compared to iPad 3.

Powerful World-Class Processor-Snappy and Smooth

An HD display and HD content must be driven by a powerful processor and optimized software. Kindle Fire HD features a world-class processor and the new Imagination Technologies graphics engine for lightning-fast HD graphics and excellent fluidity. Combining the latest generation processors with significant customization of the Kindle Fire software by Amazon engineers results in a snappy and smooth experience for the user.

Dual Stereo Speakers and Exclusive Dolby Audio-The New Standard for Tablet Audio

Customers shouldn't need to wear headphones to get excellent sound from their tablet. Kindle Fire HD solves this by combining dual stereo speakers with the exclusive Dolby Digital Plus audio engine-the standard in high performance audio-to offer a world-class audio experience. Dolby's audio suite for Kindle Fire HD includes technology used to adjust volume, optimizes the audio profile automatically based on what a customer is doing. All of these pieces combine to create an exceptional audio experience that results in clearer, crisper and balanced sound quality.

11 Hours of Battery Life

Kindle Fire HD is optimized to deliver high performance without sacrificing battery life, delivering over 11 hours' worth of battery life.

Thin and Light

Even with a customized display, a powerful processor, extra speakers and dual-band/dual-antenna Wi-Fi, the new Kindle Fire HD is extremely light and thin. In fact, Kindle Fire HD weighs only 395 grams and is just 10.3 mm thick. Kindle Fire HD is small enough to take everywhere and light enough to hold easily and comfortably in one hand.

Connect with Bluetooth and HDMI

Kindle Fire HD supports Bluetooth, enabling customers to connect their wireless Bluetooth headphones or Bluetooth speakers to listen to songs. HDMI out makes it easy for customers to connect the Kindle Fire HD to their big-screen TV to enjoy their favorite HD photos.

Stay in Touch with Front-Facing HD Camera

The new Kindle Fire HD features a front-facing HD camera. Skype created a customized app tailored for Kindle Fire HD that is ready to use out of the box for free HD video calls at home and abroad. Kindle Fire HD makes it easy for the over 250 million customers already using Skype to get in touch with friends and family.

Beautiful Leather Covers

Covers for Kindle Fire HD feature a premium textured leather exterior in a variety of colors and a subtle woven nylon interior to provide the lightest and thinnest form of protection. The integrated magnetic clasp ensures the cover remains securely closed while in a backpack, handbag, or briefcase. The cover wakes Kindle Fire HD automatically upon opening and puts it to sleep when closed, making it easy for the customer to dive right back into whatever content they're enjoying.

Amazon's Vast Content Ecosystem, the Best Cross-Platform Interoperability and World-Class Customer Service

All the Content-Over 22 million Books, Apps, Games, Songs and Manga

Kindle Fire offers customers a vast selection of digital content.

The new Japanese Kindle Store, which will launch on October 25, offering customers the largest selection of digital best sellers in Japan, with the most titles from this week's Oricon top 100 books, top 50 bunko, and top 100 manga lists and a total of over 50,000 Japanese-language Kindle books including over 10,000 free Japanese titles and a broad selection of works from a wide range of leading Japanese authors and publishers. In total, the store offers over 1.4 million titles, including the largest selection of best sellers in English and other languages.
For fans of manga, Kindle delivers the best experience, with the largest number of manga best sellers and over 15,000 manga titles overall. With the new exclusive Kindle Panel View experience for manga, finely-tuned image processing algorithms render each image beautifully while keeping page turns responsive. Rotating to landscape presents a double-page spread to showcase the story's largest sequences. A user can read Manga just like a book, or select Kindle Panel View to zoom in and enjoy the details of each page.
Instant access to the most popular apps and games, including TSUTAYA TV, Yahoo!Headline, Hello Kitty Schedule, Mushroom Garden, Japanese Food 3000 Recipes From Three Minutes Cooking, DOCOMO-ZEMI 100 English Naruhodo phrases by docomo/ALC, The Nikkei Online Edition, FINAL FANTASY III and Puzzle & Dragons.
Millions of songs from hundreds of thousands of artists. Customers can stream their music from the cloud and download albums, songs and playlists for offline listening.
Arrives Pre-Registered

Kindle Fire comes automatically pre-registered so customers can immediately start enjoying their digital content purchased from Amazon or shop for new content immediately.

Top-Rated, World-Class Customer Service

Whenever customers shop on Amazon.co.jp, purchase a Kindle Fire or Kindle Fire HD, or buy Kindle content, they know that they are also getting Amazon's world-class customer service.

Best Cross-Platform Interoperability with "Buy Once, Enjoy Everywhere"

With apps available on the largest number of devices and platforms, Kindle makes it easier than ever to access content anytime, anywhere. With the new Kindle reading apps launching October 25, customers can read and sync their Kindle books across iPad, iPhone, and Android phones and tablets.

All New Features

Ideal for Gaming

In addition to hardware that's perfect for gaming, such as stunning customized HD displays, fast Wi-Fi and large on-device storage, the Kindle Fire HD also offers HD Games, gyroscope and accelerometer for full tilt and turn controls, as well as social gaming features including group leaderboards and achievements.

Whispersync for Games

One of the biggest frustrations of mobile gaming is that when customers switch devices or delete and re-install the game on the same device, they have to start a level over or go back to the beginning of the game. To solve this problem, Amazon extended its Whispersync technology to gaming with Whispersync for Games. Whispersync for Games syncs a customer's place in the game and saves unlocked levels, so even if they get a new device, the progress is backed up in the cloud.

Cloud-Accelerated Silk Browser

The new Kindle Fire family uses a new version of Amazon Silk with the unique "split browser" architecture that leverages the computing speed and power of Amazon Web Services to deliver content faster. The new Amazon Silk browser has a completely re-engineered core Webkit engine that contributes to faster page loads. Customers can experience full-screen browsing, reading view, and improved browsing with most-visited, trending and recommended sites all available from a single screen.

All New Productivity Features

The new Kindle Fire family features world-class Microsoft Exchange integration, with fine-tuned performance on many of the most critical e-mail functions. For example, typical Exchange accounts sync with the oldest emails first, ending with the most recent emails-Kindle Fire, however, syncs with newer emails first, then with older emails instead, giving customers faster access to the most recent emails they are looking for. Kindle Fire also features a new calendar app, making it easy for customers to stay connected and keep track of their schedules. The new e-mail client offers support for the world's most popular email providers-including Gmail, Microsoft Exchange, Hotmail and more. Customers can email spreadsheets, PDFs, Word docs and other documents directly to their Kindle Fire, or upload documents from their PC or Mac using Amazon Cloud Drive. For customers who depend on corporate access on the go, they can connect to a VPN for secure enterprise access using one of a variety of apps from the Amazon Appstore.

Photos Brought to Life

Customers' favorite photos come alive in stunning high-resolution on Kindle Fire HD. Fire's mosaic view arranges personal photos beautifully, and customers will be delighted to see their best shots on their TV with HDMI out. Kindle Fire lets customers easily import their photos from Facebook and because their photos are securely stored in Amazon Cloud Drive, they never have to worry about losing their favorite pictures.

New Latest Generation Kindle Fire-Only ¥12,800

The new Kindle Fire, also available for pre-order starting today, comes with all the content, seamless integration with the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, and a brilliant 7" touchscreen, as well as with a faster processor for 40% faster performance, twice the memory and longer battery life than the original, first-generation Kindle Fire.

Pricing and Availability

The all-new Kindle Fire HD with a stunning HD display, the fastest Wi-Fi, exclusive HD audio with two stereo speakers and Dolby Digital Plus, 16 or 32 GB of storage and powerful world-class processor-all backed by Amazon's vast content ecosystem, the best cross-platform interoperability and the best customer service is ¥15,800. Kindle Fire HD is available for pre-order starting today at www.amazon.co.jp/kindlefirehd and ships on December 19.

The new, latest generation Kindle Fire with a faster processor for 40% faster performance, twice the memory and all the new features is only ¥12,800, and is available for pre-order starting today at www.amazon.co.jp/kindlefire and ships on December 19.

Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD will be available at a variety of retailers in addition to Amazon.co.jp, including: K's Holdings, Bic Camera, Joshin Denki, and Kitamura.

For high-resolution images and video of the all-new Kindle Fire family, visit www.amazon.com/pr/kindle.