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Kindle Fire HD 8.9 ships today, 4G model next week

Amazon just issued a press release to confirm the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD officially ships starting today with the 4G model, as expected, arriving sometime next week. Amazon previously said the 4G model would land Nov. 20. The $299 Wi-Fi model is available now through www.amazon.com/kindlefirehd and will also be available in-store tomorrow at Best Buy and other retailers, including Radio Shack and Staples, in “the coming weeks.”

Amazon issued another press release today confirming that Japanese customers now have access to the Amazon Cloud Drive service. In addition, the Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD will officially ship to customers in Japan starting Dec. 19.

Amazon’s full press release is below:

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nov. 15, 2012– (NASDAQ:AMZN)—Amazon today announced that Kindle Fire HD 8.9”—the large-screen version of Amazon’s best-selling HD tablet—ships today, just in time for the holiday shopping season. Customers can order their Kindle Fire HD 8.9” at www.amazon.com/kindlefirehd for $299. Kindle Fire HD 8.9” is also available at Best Buystarting tomorrow as well as additional retailers like Staples and Radio Shack in the coming weeks. Kindle Fire HD 8.9” 4G will ship next week.

“Kindle Fire HD has been Amazon’s best-selling product worldwide since launch, and that was before we even started shipping the best tablet we’ve ever built,” said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “With the holiday season upon us, we’re excited to make our $299 Kindle Fire HD 8.9” available early—we think customers are going to love web browsing, email, gaming, watching TV shows, reading magazines, and more on the large, stunning HD screen, with fast Wi-Fi and exceptional audio.”

Kindle Fire HD 8.9” is the top-of-the-line Kindle Fire. Features include:

  • A vibrant 8.9”, 1920×1200 resolution display at 254 ppi.
  • Dual antenna, dual-band Wi-Fi with MIMO technology for faster streaming and downloads.
  • The latest generation TI OMAP 4470 processor and Imagination SGX544 graphics engine capable of over 12 billion floating point operations per second.
  • Dual stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus audio—the standard in high-end audio—available exclusively on Kindle Fire HD.
  • Exceptional battery life—Kindle Fire HD 8.9” gets 10 hours of battery life.
  • Front-facing HD camera for taking photos or making video calls, including a custom Skype application for free video calling from around the world.
  • New Amazon-exclusive features like X-Ray for Movies, X-Ray for Textbooks, Immersion Reading, Whispersync for Voice and Whispersync for Games.
  • Kindle FreeTime, a free, personalized tablet experience just for kids and exclusively available on Kindle Fire. Parents can set daily screen limits and give access to appropriate content for each child.
  • World’s best content ecosystem—over 22 million movies, TV shows, songs, apps, games, books, audiobooks and magazines.
  • “Buy Once, Enjoy Everywhere” with Amazon apps available on the largest number of platforms so customers can use theirAmazon content on any of their devices.
  • Amazon’s top-rated, world-class customer service.

The new Kindle Fire HD 8.9” 4G, with groundbreaking 4G LTE data package, starts at $499 and will begin shipping on November 20. Amazon worked closely with AT&T to offer the most affordable 4G tablet data package. The 12-session AT&T 4G data package includes 250MB a session of data, a $10 Amazon Appstore for Android credit and 20GB of Amazon CloudDrive, all for a one-time payment of only $49.99. There are no monthly fees or annual contracts. The $49.99 package is only available for the first year of service. Customers can also choose to upgrade to 3GB or 5GB data plans from AT&T directly from the device. Kindle Fire HD 8.9” features the latest 4G LTE technology for ultra-fast mobile broadband, letting customers connect to the internet, stream, and download at speeds even faster than Wi-Fi. Unlike some 4G devices, Kindle Fire HD includes support for 10 bands, so even when a customer is in a place with no 4G LTE network they’ll fall back to the fastest available network and won’t lose coverage. All this with no compromises to battery or weight – Kindle Fire HD combines the most power-efficient LTE chipset available with a custom-designed 4G wireless modem that’s only 2.2 mm thin.

Customers can learn more and order at www.amazon.com/kindlefirehd. Kindle Fire HD 8.9” is also available at Best Buy starting tomorrow and will also be available at additional retailers like Staples and Radio Shack in the coming weeks.

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Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s weekly Logic Pros series and makes music as one half of Toronto-based Makamachine.