Amazon.com CEO promotes Kindle reader in shareholder letter

Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle has arrived. Again.

Amazon's $399 electronic book reader debuted in November but sold out almost immediately. Since then, Amazon has been bullish about customer demand but has declined to reveal how many back orders it has taken for the device.

Now, the Web retailer appears to have sorted out its supply chain and manufacturing holdups. Not only is the Kindle back in stock online, it was the sole subject of Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos' annual letter to shareholders.

In the letter, filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bezos trumpeted the Kindle's advantage as a "purpose-built reading device," as opposed to smart phones and laptops, which he said encourage "information snacking" and short attention spans.

"We hope Kindle and its successors may gradually and incrementally move us over years into a world with longer spans of attention," he wrote.

Bezos also wrote that Amazon's vision for the Kindle is that it will make "every book ever printed in any language all available in less than 60 seconds."

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On the Net:

http://www.amazon.com/kindle