Cheapest Amazon Kindle yet announced

Amazon has announced a brace of new Kindles this week, with the company revealing its cheapest Kindle yet.

The new Kindle is coming to the US at the achingly low price of $79. To put this into context it is the same price as a year's subscription to Amazon Prime.

In the UK, the price for the new Amazon Kindle has been pegged at £89 - still below the current price for the older Kindle 3 model but at first glance it does look like we have been stung a bit on the price.

According to Amazon, though, this is because the $79 version of the Kindle will be ad-supported in the US and this version will not be coming to the UK.

The non ad-supported version will retail in the US for £109, which converts to around £70. Add VAT to this and the figure looks more like what we will be paying in the UK.

While the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet may have taken all the headlines from the e-tailer's massive media event today, the new Kindles are not to be sniffed at, with the low price points signalling that e-reading is about to go mega mainstream.

No touch

The new cheaper Kindle doesn't have touchscreen connectivity like the original Kindle but it has done away with the keyboard and now just has buttons.

Amazon has also improved on the page-turning capabilities - announcing that they are faster than ever.

The cheaper Amazon Kindle joins a new line-up of Kindle devices, including the Amazon Kindle Touch, Touch 3G and the Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet.

The Kindle Wi-Fi UK release date is 12 October. You can go to Amazon UK to pre-order the Wi-Fi Kindle now.