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

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

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.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. 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. Kindle Paperwhite is the most-advanced e-reader ever constructed with 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, extra-long battery life, and a thin and light design. The new latest generation Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, now features new, improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD features a stunning custom high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end, laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support and dual-antennas/MIMO for 40% faster throughput than other tablets, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine—and it is available in two display sizes—7” and 8.9”. The large-screen Kindle Fire HD is also available with 4G wireless, and comes with a groundbreaking $49.99 introductory 4G LTE data package. The all-new Kindle Fire features a 20% faster processor, 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life.

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.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

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