This is big news: Amazon introduced couple of versions of the device today, including a $139US model that works using Wi-Fi only. A second version, with 3G connectivity as well as Wi-Fi to download books, costs $189US.

Everyone knew that prices for e-book readers will be slowly dropping, but I guess we did not expect it to happen so quickly. For most people Wi-Fi only reader for under $150 will keep Amazon ahead of competition. I am actually happy that Amazon is staying true to its original concept of the e-book reader, price is coming down to very affordable levels. The incredible selection of books available from Amazon is most likely the biggest feature anyone would want.

From my own experience, I like iBooks App on the iPad but love the Kindle App for reading my books now. I like the fact I have access to a huge selection of titles as well as the fact that there is iPhone App and Mac version available which syncs my current page where I am reading across all the devices. I think the war is far from over, sooner or later we will see e-readers become similar to cellphones in business model. Companies will offer them for free, but you will be limited to content sold by that company. For example, Amazon could provide you with a free e-reader but you can only purchase books distributed by them. Or you must order at least ten books over specific period of time. Lastly, may be one day we will see a subscription model just like audible.com has where you get a free e-book reader and you pay $10-$20US a month and you can download any one or two books a month.

It will be interesting to see what the future hold for e-book readers like the Kindle. I think iPad still stands in its own category, it not really a computer, but it has full milti-media capacity. Which included of course e-book reader functionality. I think Apple would have better chances in creating a partnership with Amazon than trying to copy them. On the one hand, it is all business for both of these companies, they need to make money after all.