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Whilst it seems certain that the release of the Apple iPad has impacted upon sales of Amazon’s Kindle reader, the internet retail giant doesn’t appear to be unduly worried. Following another price cut and an upgrade, the 6″ version of the Kindle has now sold out. It seems that it will be several weeks before new supplies start shipping. The larger Kindle DX version is currently still available.

The latest Kindle release sees a 21% reduction in the physical size of the reader (whilst still maintaining the same display size), a reduction in weight of 15% and faster page turns. Thanks to the fact that the memory has been doubled, you can now carry a small library of 3,500 Kindle books with you wherever you go. A battery life of up to one month (with the Wi-Fi off) and a new, high contrast display means that the Kindle is the perfect device for reading - at home or on the road.

Customers can now pick either graphite or white body colors and the standard unit comes with both Wi-Fi and free 3G connectivity. A cheaper Wi-Fi only reader is included as an option for the first time for users who don’t anticipate the need for a 3G connection.

Amazon will also be marketing the Kindle directly from some of its international sites - starting in the UK. UK based customers will now be able to buy their Kindle reader straight from the Amazon UK site instead of having it shipped from the USA. A dedicated UK Kindle book store will be set up, and no doubt similar arrangements can be anticipated for France and Germany in future.

Amazon recently announced that Kindle books were outselling hardback versions on their US website . In the last month, Amazon has sold 180 Kindle editions for every 100 conventional hard cover versions. They appear to be very confident that the future of reading is going to be digital - and these figures do seem to support that assertion. E-book readers are, on a commercial basis at least, a fairly new development. The reading public - based upon these figures - seems to have become accustomed to e-book readers very rapidly.

Over the last few months, e-book reader prices have fallen by a long way. The new third generation Kindle with 3G and Wi-Fi price of $ 189 is well below the $ 359 February 2009 launch price of the Kindle 2.0. The Wi-Fi only reader, priced at just $ 139, is getting into mp3 player territory. These prices may, or may not, have been driven down by the launch of the Apple iPad - but the hardware price was always going to fall, and it may yet have some way to go.

Although the retail price of e-book readers has been come down, the cost of the e-books themselves seems to have been trending upwards. This gives Amazon a significant edge over many of its competitors who are primarily interested in hardware sales. Amazon’s massive library of Kindle books is a tremendous asset for them - as is the fact that they have made so many Kindle “apps” available which allow Kindle books to be read on a variety of other devices. As the still developing e-book market matures and greater emphasis is placed on e-books as opposed to the hardware to read them on, Amazon appear to be very well placed to continue as the dominant player in the new electronic publishing world.

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Tags: Amazon Kindle, ebook readers, ebooks, personal tech, technology