Amazon on Wednesday introduced several new Kindle electronic book reader models in a bid to greatly broaden the lineup of its e-book readers to six models and address yet untapped markets. With the new Kindle and Kindle Touch models the Amazon's e-book reader lineup begins at $79 and $99.

"We have now reached the magical two-digit price point for Kindle - twice: the new Kindle and Kindle Touch are only $79 and $99. Kindle Touch 3G is the new top of the line e-reader with free 3G - no monthly fees or annual contracts - and is only $149," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and chief executive officer.

The three new additions to the Kindle family are models based on high-contrast and power-saving 6" E Ink Pearl displays. The most affordable e-book reader from Amazon, which will be sold by the company for $79, is the new Kindle 6" with 5-way joystick controller, 2GB of internal memory, lack of audio support 1 month battery life. Two new other models that feature multi-touch screens are Kindle Touch ($99) and Kindle Touch 3G ($149) that are slightly larger than the Kindle 6", sport 4GB of internal memory, audio support, 2 months battery life and so on. All three models will hit the market in November.

Amazon will continue to sell its successful Kindle Keyboard ($99), Kindle Keyboard 3G ($139) and Kindle DX ($379) e-book readers and will also offer Kindle Fire media tablets for those who would like to sacrifice extra long battery life for multimedia content.

The Kindle e-book readers will also sport a brand new feature called X-ray that lets customers explore the "bones of the book". With a single tap, readers can see all the passages across a book that mention ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places or topics that interest them, as well as more detailed descriptions from Wikipedia and Shelfari, Amazon's community-powered encyclopedia for book lovers. Amazon built X-Ray will rely on computing resources with Amazon S3 and EC2 and hence will only work with proper connection to the Internet.

All three new Kindle e-readers also come with special offers and sponsored screensavers that appear when you're not reading. Customers enjoy special money-saving offers delivered wirelessly sponsored by AT&T, the Dove beauty brand and Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card by Chase. Kindle e-reader customers will also receive special offers in their own backyards from AmazonLocal, Amazon's local deals marketplace with discounts on local services, products, and experiences. Customers can also choose to purchase a Kindle without special offers and sponsored screensavers.

Tags: Amazon, Kindle, E-Book