• The New York Times, Thursday, September 6, 2007 11:45 AM

Amazon next month will unveil the Kindle--an electronic book reader that has been the subject of industry speculation for a year. Many publishing executives see Amazon's entrance into the e-book world as a major test for the notion that books and newspapers may one day be consumed on a digital device.

Priced at $400 to $500, the Kindle will wirelessly connect to an e-book store on Amazon's site. Sources say Amazon will pack some free offerings onto the device, like reference books, and offer customers a choice of subscriptions to feeds from major newspapers. The device also has a keyboard, so its users can take notes or navigate the Web.

Meanwhile, Google plans this fall to start charging users for full online access to the digital copies of some books in its database, according to sources. Publishers will set the prices for their own books. Google has no plans to introduce an electronic device for reading books.

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