Amazon launches German Kindle Store with 650,000 titles and lots of long words
After having already penetrated the UK's e-book market last year, Amazon has now launched the German Kindle Store, bringing more than 650,000 titles to Europe's most populous country. With today's launch, the German Kindle Store instantly becomes Germany's biggest e-bookstore, with some 25,000 German-language titles, thousands of free classics, and a similarly bountiful collection of independent newspapers and magazines. Customers will also be able to purchase the latest Kindle and Kindle 3G models directly from Amazon.de, along with a whole new suite of free, German-language Kindle apps for iPhone, iPad, PC and Android platforms. Germany's writers and publishers, meanwhile, can use the Kindle Direct Publishing service to make their works instantly available on the new store, where, if they're lucky, they may get to pocket some handsome royalties, as well. Full press release after the break.
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AMAZON.DE LAUNCHES GERMAN KINDLE STORE
WITH THE LARGEST SELECTION OF ANY E-BOOKSTORE IN GERMANY
Amazon's Free "Buy Once, Read Everywhere" Kindle Apps Now Available in German
Thousands of Free German Classics Available on Kindle
LUXEMBOURG, 21 April 2011 - (NASDAQ: AMZN)-Amazon.de today launched the Kindle Store (www.amazon.de/kindlebuecher), the biggest e-bookstore in Germany, with the largest selection of ebooks including more than 650,000 titles, 71 of 100 Spiegel bestsellers, and over 25,000 German-language titles with thousands of German classics downloadable for free only on Kindle. Amazon also announced that its series of free "Buy Once, Read Everywhere" apps for the most popular devices, including iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac and Android-based devices, are now available in German-language versions. In addition, in response to customer demand, Amazon is now offering the latest-generation Kindle and Kindle 3G with an English user interface directly from Amazon.de.
"After 12 years of selling print books on Amazon.de, we are excited today to offer the millions of Amazon.de customers access to the biggest e-bookstore in Germany," said Greg Greeley, vice president, European Retail. "German customers are passionate about books and reading, and just as we've seen in the U.S. and the U.K., we believe they will quickly embrace the advantages of reading on Kindle."
The German Kindle Store's vast selection includes titles from German-language authors including Arno Geiger, Kerstin Gier and Charlotte Link, plus 71 of 100 Spiegel bestsellers and thousands of German classics downloadable for free only on Kindle. Additionally, the Kindle Store features thousands of independently-published German-language titles through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing service. Top German and international newspapers and magazines are also available for single purchase or subscription including Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Handelsblatt and Die Zeit. New subscriptions are auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle and start with a free 14-day trial.
Free Kindle reading apps are now available in German language for iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac and Android-based devices. Amazon's Whispersync technology 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.de where they can be re-downloaded wirelessly for free, anytime.
Kindle is the bestselling product in Amazon's history and offers the latest electronic-ink technology with 50 percent better contrast, a sleek design with a 6-inch screen, light weight of just 8.5 ounces, readable in bright sunlight with no glare, and up to one-month battery life. Kindle has an English keyboard and English-language menus that allow customers to find, discover and read a large selection of German and English books. Kindle is available for just 139€ and Kindle 3G is only 189€. Both Kindle devices are now available with free two-day shipping from Amazon.de.
"Customers have been asking us to make our latest-generation Kindle available from Germany and we are pleased to do that today," Greeley continued. "Plus, any German customer with a smartphone, tablet or PC and a free Kindle reading app can buy and read ebooks from the Kindle Store today."
Customers can start shopping our new German ebookstore at www.amazon.de/kindlebuecher, and can learn more about our Kindle and Kindle 3G devices at www.amazon.de/kindleWi-Fi and www.amazon.de/kindle3G.
