Amazon introduces slimmer e-book reader

Amazon.com Inc. is releasing a new, slimmer version of the Kindle, its electronic reading device, and it will have an exclusive release of a new book from Stephen King.

The online retailer's founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, told a New York news conference Monday that the highly anticipated new Kindle will cost $359 US, same as the previous version. Amazon says it will begin shipping the new Kindle on Feb. 24.

The new Kindle is about one-third of an inch (8.4 millimetres) thick and weighs about 10 ounces (283 grams). It includes a screen with 16 shades of grey, compared to the previous Kindle's four shades. It will be able to read text aloud and can store 1,500 books, compared to 200 on the previous version. It also promises two weeks of reading on one charge of the battery.

King has written a novella, called Ur, that will be exclusively available on the Kindle and will incorporate the device into the story.

King has been known as a digital publishing innovator.

In 2000, he released a novella, Riding the Bullet, as a free download. Websites such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com were swamped by high demand for the 66-page story.