THE Kindle is finally here.

Amazon Inc officially unveiled the long-awaited e-book reader, the world's most popular, on the Chinese mainland yesterday.

The new Kindle devices include Kindle Paperwhite, a professional e-book reader priced at 849 yuan (US$134) and tablet computer Kindle Fire HD with 16-gigabyte memory for 1,499 yuan and 32 GB for 1,799 yuan.

The devices are now available on the Amazon China website, online store and outlets of Suning, one of China's major electronics retailers.

Amazon had been preparing for Kindle's domestic launch. In May, it opened a mobile application store for Android phone and tablet users on the mainland. In December, the company launched an online e-book store and related apps in the domestic market.

But revenue in the domestic e-book reader market has declined dramatically as people turn more to tablet computers and smartphones for reading, analysts said.

Compared with Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Fire HD will get a warmer response, thanks to its international brand awareness and competitive price, according to Wang Jun, analyst of Analysys International, a Beijing-based IT research firm.

Apple's iPad Mini, with similar features and functions to the Kindle Fire HD, has a starting price of 2,498 yuan.