The Amazon Kindle is an electronic book reader sold by Amazon.com. The device has been around for a while, however is was only recently launched internationally. I got my hands on one and have been really impressed!

Whilst the device itself is nice, the most impressive part is the business model. Every Kindle ships with free wireless 3G mobile access. What that means is that you can browse the online Amazon book store and buy books from anywhere, anytime. Waiting at the airport and need a new book to read? A quick browse on the online store and 60 seconds later you have your new book downloaded onto your Kindle. You can even download the first chapter of any book for free to see if you like it, and then purchase the full book if you do.

The convenience is outstanding. I read a lot of books and usually have several on the go at once. The beauty of the Kindle is that I can carry them all with me wherever I go - in fact the Kindle will hold around 1000 books - enough for even the most avid reader. Plus you can archive books to Amazon's website and re-download them whenever you like. For students this will be a godsend - I remember having to lug tonnes of heavy textbooks around during university - and Amazon have also just released a larger, textbook sized Kindle DX aimed at this kind of use.

The reading experience itself is quite good. The Kindle has a digital ink screen - so it looks a lot like paper and is far easier on the eyes than reading off a computer screen. I thought it would take me a while to move away from the feel and sensation of paper, however after an hour or two reading on the Kindle became quite natural. You can also highlight passages, search for text and bookmark pages. Under normal usage, and with the wireless turned off the battery life runs into weeks.

For me the Kindle is a lot like the iPod. It's not just a technology device, but an end to end business model - which extends the content right through to the device and makes the user experience great. The Kindle and its successors will be as disruptive as the iPod - even now e-books outsold print books over Christmas.

Have you tried a Kindle? Did you like it? Do you think that paper books will eventually go the way of the vinyl record?

Update: Amazon has announced the Kindle DX will be available internationally from Jan 19th.