First touchscreen Kindle released

The touchscreen model of Amazon's hit Kindle e-reader will go on sale in the UK in April.

The Kindle Touch will be priced at £109 for a wi-fi model and £169 for the 3G model.

The touchscreen lets readers flip pages by tapping, search and add notes using a fingertip.

Amazon has still not announced a release date for its colour Kindle Fire entertainment tablet, which offers the same e-reading capabilities but with the addition of music, video and apps.

The tablet has been on sale for months in the U.S. and has been a hit for the company.

Apple is rumoured to be considering a seven-inch version of ipad to combat the threat of Amazon's low-priced Fire - the Android tablet is just $200.

'UK customers have been asking us to make Kindle Touch available on Amazon.co.uk and we are excited to do so today,' said Jorrit Van der Meulen, Vice President, Kindle, Amazon EU.

'Readers in the UK buy an average of 4 times the number of books they purchased prior to owning a Kindle.

'With the launch of Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G we expect to see this reading renaissance continue.'

The new e-reader will offer an extra-long battery life of up to two months - the current model offers roughly a month in normal use.

Daily Mail, London