Jeff Bezos has no intention to try to out-iPad the iPad. Instead, Amazon has told its story about why the Kindle is a better e-book device than Apple's tablet, and it's sticking to it.

On Wednesday night Amazon announced the next generation Kindle, a slim white or carbon-colored e-reader that's inches smaller in width and height than the Kindle 2. The new model is 15 per cent lighter, accesses wi-fi and features double the storage space.

The Kindle 3 will sell for $189, the same price as the Kindle 2, and have a 3G wireless connection. A wi-fi-only Kindle 3 will go for $139.

The latest Kindle also offers an upgrade on its E-Ink screen: White and black hues are separated by 50 per cent higher contrast and "pages" refresh a snappy 20 per cent faster. Storage and battery life have both been doubled: The e-reader stores 4 gigabytes of books (enough for 3,500 titles) and its battery can last a full month when wireless is turned off, or up to 10 days with its 3G connection turned on.

But despite all those incremental upgrades, more remarkable is how the Kindle hasn't changed. Despite the explosion of competing e-readers that have sprouted since the last Kindle launch, including Apple's fast-selling iPad, the new reader doesn't have a colorful LCD screen or run video. It doesn't have a simple touch-screen interface like Barnes & Noble's Nook, nor has Amazon enabled touch on the Kindle's E-Ink screen in lieu of its keyboard.

"In a purpose-built reading device, there are very few features that matter," says Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle content. "One is battery life, another is screen resolution and ease on the eyes. Whether you touch buttons on the screen or on the keyboard is a very small part of your interaction with the device."

And compete with the iPad's bright and colorful multi-touch display? "We're not really focused on that," says Grandinetti. "We're really focused on building a purpose-built e-reader…on making this device better."

So far, that focus has worked. Despite doomsday predictions for the Kindle following the iPad's launch last January, the device has thrived. Over the last three months, Amazon has said its Kindle sales have accelerated, though it won't say just how many Kindles have been sold in total. Grandinetti did say that the growth rate of sales tripled after Amazon dropped the Kindle 2's price to $189 in late June.

Amazon also reports that e-books now outsell hardcover books by 80 per cent, and that it sold three times as many e-books in the last quarter as it sold in the same quarter last year. On Tuesday the company announced that Stieg Larsson, of the popular "Millenium" series, was the first author to sell more than 1 million Kindle e-books.