Jeff Bezos, chief executive of Amazon, announces his company's plans of releasing a cheaper Kindle e-reader. The executive laid out his strategy to make the Kindle a "mass market" device to increase sales of digital books at Amazon.

The new Kindle has features such as a screen with higher gray-scale contrast, a battery life of about a month, and a slightly smaller size. The device is expected to come in two variants: one with Wi-Fi and 3G Internet connections that has a price $189, the other with Wi-Fi only for $139. The $139 model will be one of the cheapest wireless-equipped e-readers on the market.

"We developed this device for serious readers. At these price points, it may be much broader than that... People will buy them for their kids. People won't share Kindles any more," said Bezos in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

The company will begin taking orders for the device on Thursday. The new models will begin shipping on Aug. 27 to 140 countries.