NEW YORK - AMAZON hopes it has come up with the literary equivalent of the iPod - by unveiling this week a paperback-sized e-book reading device which can wirelessly download titles directly from its online store.

The chief executive of the online bookseller, Mr Jeff Bezos, acknowledges that 'the landscape is littered with the bodies of dead e-book readers', but claims that his company's device will be different.

The US$399 (S$577) Kindle - unveiled on Monday after three years of development - allows users to download bestsellers for US$9.99 each, takes less than a minute to download an entire book, can hold 200 titles at a time and is designed to replicate the feel of a traditional book.

And in a unique development, it enables readers to buy books without using a computer as, in the United States at any rate, it connects directly to the Amazon store via a high-speed wireless network. Also, wireless delivery is included in the cost of the book.

'This was really designed to be super simple for readers,' Mr Bezos points out.

'Kindle is wireless, so whether you're lying in bed or riding a train, you can think of a book, and have it in less than 60 seconds.'

So far, e-books have remained a sliver of overall book sales, partly because they lack the comfort and intimacy of the traditional version.

But Mr Bezos points out that, weighing in at about 300g, Kindle will be more comfortable to curl up with than previous such devices.

Amazon says Kindle's screen reflects light like ordinary paper, uses 'ink, just like books and newspapers, but displays the ink particles electronically', and eliminates the eye strain and glare associated with other electronic displays.

The device also generates less heat because there is no backlight to the display.

'Our top design objective was for Kindle to disappear in your hands - to get out of the way - so you can enjoy your reading,' Mr Bezos explains.

Amazon, which as one of the world's largest booksellers has an immediate advantage over other suppliers of e-readers, already has 90,000 titles, including 90 per cent of current bestsellers, lined up for download.

Kindle will also download newspapers, magazines and blogs on a subscription basis.

And publishing executives share Mr Bezos' optimism about Kindle.

'You kind of understand why it has been three years in development, because it offers so much in an uncomplicated way,' says Mr David Young, the chief executive of the Hachette Book Group USA, which owns Little, Brown.

'The big challenge, of course, is that it is still relatively expensive,' he adds.

'You have to be a very committed book person to get a repay on that investment.'

But the iPod received a similar reaction when it was first unveiled, incidentally at the same price.

Analyst Scott Devitt says of Kindle: 'The product is innovative and has the capacity to recreate the e-book business.'

However, not everyone is as impressed with the new device or claims that it is the new iPod.

Writing on TechCrunch website, Mr Michael Arrington says: 'The Kindle isn't the most elegant-looking gadget ever created - in fact it looks like it came out of the 1970s.'

Adds Mr Peter Kafka at Silicon Valley Insider: 'No matter how nifty a gadget Jeff Bezos' company has created, it won't have the same impact on publishing that Apple's iPod had on the music business.'

ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESS, NEW YORK TIMES, BLOOMBERG