Amazon launches Kindle Colorsoft, its first e-reader with colour screen

Amazon on Wednesday announced its first colour Kindle e-reader following years of effort to bring the more immersive device to market. Called the Kindle Colorsoft, the new e-reader carries a $280 price tag that compares with similar devices from other manufacturers available on Amazon in the range of $149 to $330. The Colorsoft relies on LEDs and other technologies to achieve the colour display, according to a company statement.

Amazon had tried in prior years to develop colour e-readers using eInk – the technology available in its standard Kindles that requires minimal battery power. The Colorsoft will have a roughly eight-week battery life, compared with up to three months for its latest generation Paperwhite e-reader. Amazon has launched the new Kindle Colorsoft in select markets with no word on when the new e-reader is coming to India.

The Seattle retailer also unveiled a new Paperwhite with a 7-inch screen, measured diagonally, two-tenths of an inch larger than the most recent generation's. It also revealed an updated Kindle Scribe e-reader, which allows users to jot onto the screen with a stylus and convert that into more legible text. Users' in-book notations can be summarised by artificial intelligence software that can convert pages of notes into bullet points, the company said.

Amazon is still the market leader in e-readers, commanding more than three quarters of the market, by some measures. The devices are built to last for years and the company has said it sells them for close to cost, making money when people purchase books or other reading materials. The COVID-19 pandemic fueled a surge in e-reader use, as many libraries stayed closed to enforce shelter-in-place policies but still offered wireless downloads of e-books.

Kindles are often put on sale during discount events, such as Prime Day. The Colorsoft will ship to customers on October 30 and the new Scribe will ship on December 4.