Best Buy starts pre-sale of new Kindle devices

(Reuters) - Electronics retailer Best Buy Co Inc said it has started taking pre-orders for the new Kindle Fire tablets that online retail giant Amazon.com Inc launched on Thursday.

The world's largest consumer electronics chain on Friday launched a pre-sale on the new Kindle, the Kindle Paperwhite, as well as the updated Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD models, at all Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile standalone stores.

Amazon unveiled a slew of tablets with price tags ranging from $159 to $599 on Thursday, hoping to challenge Apple Inc's dominant iPad and grab a bigger bite of the growing tablet market.

The news came as retailers gear up for the all-important holiday season, the biggest selling period of the year.

The new Kindle, the updated Kindle Fire, and the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD will be available starting September 14, Best Buy said. The Kindle Paperwhite will be in stores in October.

The 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD, and Kindle Fire HD that works off either Wi-Fi or fourth-generation wireless broadband, known as 4G, will be in stores before Christmas, Best Buy said.

No. 1 U.S. office supply chain Staples Inc said on Thursday its U.S. stores will carry some of the larger, faster, aggressively priced Kindle Fire tablets starting as early as later this month.

Smaller rival Office Depot told Reuters late on Thursday that it will carry the updated Kindle Fire along with accessories, in U.S. stores later this month.

(Reporting By Dhanya Skariachan in New York; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)