Head over to Amazon’s Kindle page and you’ll see these long-awaited words:

Availability: In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Whether it was excessive demand or a mess-up at the factory which caused the Wii-like shortage, Jeff Bezos’ ebook reader (and always-on internet appliance) is back.

It’s still $400, it’s still ugly, and it still won’t make you look like a romantic intellectual when you read it whilst sipping espresso at a Paris pavement café. But it is the first step towards a cheap and useable ebook reader, unless Apple gets there first.

We particularly like Amazon’s tagline for the Kindle: “Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device”. Yes, Wireless reading device. A brand new product category. Thank God I won’t have to plug my paperbacks in ever again.

Product page [Amazon]

Photo: DrStarbuck/Flickr

Tags: DVD, equipment, consumer electronics, amps