Talk show queen Oprah loves it, and horror master Stephen King has written a novella for the gadget.

Amazon.com’s new version of the Kindle, an electronic book-reading device, is being released in the weak U.S. economy where it will compete with other mobile devices as well as traditional books.

But Canadians, so often shut out of new consumer gadgets, will only be reading about Kindle 2—not with it. Neither the original nor the new Kindle is for sale yet in Canada.

The wireless device will cost US$359, the same price as the original Kindle.

“This is probably the worst time in history to be introducing a device at that cost factor, that for most people they are not convinced that they need it just yet,” said digital commentator Carmi Levy of Toronto-based AR Communications Inc. “They can still go to the library and get their books for free.”

The new Kindle can store 1,500 books, compared with 200 on the previous version, and users will also have access to newspapers and blogs. The size of a paperback book, the new device is lighter and slimmer than the previous version, and users can read with it for up to two weeks without recharging it, said Amazon.

Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos said the new Kindle also has a voice of its own and can read text aloud, “something new we added that a book could never do,” he said in a release.

IDC Canada analyst Kevin Restivo said the Kindle 2 is currently a niche product at best.

“This is probably a product that will be adopted or used by a very small portion of the population right now because it’s a device dedicated to one thing right now, and that’s reading books,” said Restivo.

Restivo said it’s not unusual that the Kindle is initially available only in the U.S., due to that country’s large consumer market, and that it should eventually come to Canada.

Amazon.com said it will begin shipping the Kindle 2 on Feb. 24. The company has 230,000 books, many of them $9.99, available for the gadget, as well as Internet content over Sprint Nextel Corp.’s wireless network in the United States.

The Kindle does have important endorsements.

Oprah has said on her website that it was her “favourite new gadget” and that it would save paper and make books less expensive.

King has written a novella, called Ur, that will be exclusively available on the Kindle and incorporates the device into the story.

Restivo said it’s a difficult time to be launching new products.

“We’re in the dead of winter and consumer spending is dropping,” said Restivo.

“It’s an interesting launch but it’s not capturing people’s imagination like the iPhone. In this environment, you need to do that to have a massively successful product launch. There is no Apple-like buzz about it.”