Put the kettle on for Kindle ad breaks

In a move that has alarmed literary traditionalists, internet retailer Amazon is to launch a new cut-price Kindle e-reader next month which will display adverts for products including beauty creams, motor vehicles and credit cards as readers browse their favourite novels.

The Kindle with Special Offers, which will sell for $25 (15) less than the standard model as an incentive to purchasers, will only be available in the US at first, but technology observers predict it will arrive in the UK next year.

Advertising sources believe that Kindle could soon develop the concept to allow the industry to "profile" readers and tailor advertisements to individual users based on their book choices. But the new device has come under fire from literary experts who believe that readers should not face being targeted by companies trying to sell them products.

The Kindle has divided the reading public since its UK launch around 18 months ago. It is Amazon's most popular product and is forecast to bring in more than $5 billion in revenue this year.

Vanessa Robertson, owner of The Edinburgh Bookshop in Bruntsfield, said she was against adverts on Kindles. "I just don't think it is a good fit. You don't want to read a book and see adverts flashing up at the same time. I think it would have to be much cheaper to make people accept adverts."

Marion Sinclair, chief executive of the Scottish Publishing Forum, added: "Most ardent bibliophiles will not be happy with ads on their Kindle. People want to immerse themselves in their book and have a totally absorbing reading experience - not be constantly reminded that they can save a few pence on their next latte."

The adverts will replace the screen saver page, which currently consists of historical pictures of authors such as Austen. The device will also display adverts and special offers along the bottom of the home page, while readers will be able to rate their favourite adverts, choosing between, for example, a picture of a woman's face advertising Olay beauty cream and a photograph of the product in a pot.

Richard Marsham, managing partner of Tangible, parent company of the Leith Agency, which created the iconic Irn-Bru adverts, said: "You could easily build up a profile on someone pretty quickly by looking at the types of books they're reading - and target products accordingly. I think it's a great idea."

Firms already signed up to advertise their products on Kindles include General Motors' Buick car marque, Procter & Gamble's Olay cosmetics brand and payments processor JPMorgan Chase, which will advertise the Amazon.com Reward Visa Card.

Amazon's Kindle director, Jay Marine, insists the company has designed the advertising platform so that commercials do not interfere with the customer's reading experience. But many users do not believe that will be the case.

"I think I'll be sticking with the Kindle I've got, which I love," said Edinburgh-based writer Sara Sheridan, author of Secret Of The Sands. "I would find adverts very intrusive. I keep my Kindle by my bed so it's right in my personal space and the idea of there being adverts there does not appeal to me at all. If they were ads for other books, that would be different. You are used to seeing other new books advertised in the back pages of a novel."

Marc Lambert, chief executive of the Scottish Book Trust, said he was concerned that the new adverts could be the beginning of a slippery slope.

"An unwelcome expansion of this particular idea would be in-book advertising, which would be an altogether more intrusive framework, and would almost certainly impact upon the reading experience in a negative way, regardless of the cost benefits," he said.

Amazon has consistently lowered the price of the Kindle since it released the first version of the device in the US at $399 in 2007. It now sells in the UK for 111 for the wi-fi version and 152 for the 3G model.