Business - New York E-reader price war: Amazon cuts Kindle price to $189 Emergence of iPad and other tablet computers has brought price pressure

By Mae Anderson and Rachel Metz AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) -- A price war is heating up in the electronic reader market, as Amazon cut the price of its Kindle e-reader below $200 Monday just after Barnes & Noble did the same with its competing Nook device. The rapid-fire moves are fanning flames in the still-small but rapidly growing market that the book industry sees as a major part of its future. On Monday afternoon, online retailer Amazon.com Inc. slashed the price of the Kindle by $70 to $189, just a few hours after bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. reduced the price of the Nook by $60 to $199 and said it would also start selling a new Nook with Wi-Fi access for $149. Both the Kindle and the original Nook can wirelessly download books over high-speed data networks; the Nook also has Wi-Fi access. Seattle-based Amazon has lowered the Kindle's price several times since the e-reader with a grayscale screen debuted in 2007 at $399. In October, the online retailer dropped the price to $259 from $299. Amazon also sells a larger-screen Kindle, the Kindle DX, for $489. The Nook was released late last year for $259. Both e-readers are creeping closer to the price of bookstore chain Borders Group Inc.'s new $149 Kobo e-reader, which will be available in July and work with Borders' online bookstore. And the cuts mean the price gap between these products and Apple Inc.'s touchscreen iPad, which starts at $499, is getting ever wider. The popularity of the iPad, along with a number of other tablet computers soon to be available that offer many functions, have pressured e-reader makers to lower prices. Published: Wed, Jun 23, 2010

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