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She's got a Kindle.

Amazon today announced that its Kindle e-book reader, and e-book download service, will see international release.

So far, Kindle tablets, and content, have only been available in the US.

But a new "International Wireless” edition of the Kindle is now being promoted via Amazon.com. The global Kindle will see a Sydney launch on October 26, with Amazon.com taking Australian orders from October 19. In the US, the international version, touted as roaming freindly, is being advertised for $US279.

Aussies are promised free 3G wireless connections (in the US, Kindles - which feature a built-in cellular radio - receive ebooks through a tie-up with telephone company Sprint).

The international version has the same 6-inch display and magazine-thin form-factor as the lastest Kindle in the US (read: Kindle 2 ships to fevered reviews), and from glimpses so far seems to be, for all intents and purposes a Kindle 2. In the US, the larger, more newspaper-friendly Kindle DX is also sold, featuring a 9.7-inch screen.

e-books will be delivered in under 60 seconds, Amazon promises - anywhere in Australia that a Kindle can lock on to a 3G signal. Participating telcos have yet to be announced. Neither have content partners. In the US, a slew of major newspapers (though no longer Rupert Murdoch's The Wall Street Journal) are available in Kindle versions. UK, European and Asian papers have now joined the Kindle line-up too.

In a number of other countries, Kindles will have to be attached to a compter via USB to download e-books.

New Zealand - no, Fiji - yes
New Zealand is not one of the countries included in the first wave of global expansion, however.

A rep for Amazon confirmed to Keallhauled that there would be no Kindle for Godzone, but was not able to immediately provide any explanation, or give any time frame for future release.

The most obvious explanation would be NZ's smaller market size - and yet, a number of much smaller countries, including Fiji and Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe!), are getting the Kindle.

Amazon: please explain.

Against the odds - or at least the critics
Despite a skeptical reception in some quarters, the Kindle proved a hit for Amazon. Last year, Citi estimated the e-tailer sold 500,000 Kindles. This year, the analyst reckons Amazon is on track to do $US1.2 billion in Kindle-related business.

According to Forrester, 3 million e-book reading devices will be sold this year, up from its original estimate of 2 million.

Although e-books and e-book tablets are nothing new (Sony was first by some margin with a hardware reader), Amazon has two key points of difference. Its content includes most of The New York Times' Top 100 and other mainstream fare, plus newspapers and magazines - whereas Google and other providers focus on copyright-expired and academic works.

The Kindle is also famed for its black-and-white "e-ink" display that is famously readable. There's no backlighting - and in fact no power consumed at all after the screen has reset to display a new page. A page can stay onscreen all night, with the battery not tapped until you turn to the next page in the morning.

Below: scenes from Amazon.com: