Amazon.com Inc. is putting a new spin on its oldest electronic gadget, equipping the latest edition of the Kindle e-reader with the ability to take down notes with a pen.  

The Kindle Scribe will ship later this year, the online retailer said Wednesday, at a price of $339. The first version of the popular e-reader designed for writing features a 10.2-inch screen and comes with a stylus that snaps magnetically to the side of the device. Amazon introduced the product at an annual showcase of new gizmos designed by its devices unit. 

Users of the new Kindle Scribe will be able to import personal documents from a phone or PC, annotate books, Microsoft Word documents, web pages and other document types, the company said. Rival makers of tablets designed for writing include Rakuten Group Inc and Norwegian start-up Remarkable AS. 

Kindle’s history

Amazon released the first Kindle in 2007, the Seattle company’s first foray into consumer electronics. Today, the e-reader is frequently an afterthought for a sprawling business that produces Echo smart speakers and other devices with the Alexa digital assistant, TV streaming sticks, video doorbells, and a prototype home robot called Astro that is in limited release.

Amazon earlier this month announced refreshed versions of its mainline Kindle and a variant designed for children. Those and other previous editions of the device let readers highlight book passages or jot down a digital sticky note by typing on a touch-screen keyboard.

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Published on September 29, 2022