Amazon Kindle At Target Nationwide June 6Amazon Kindle At Target Nationwide June 6

Target has been selling the Kindle since April 25 at its flagship Minneapolis store and 102 south Florida stores. On Wednesday, Target said sales of the e-reader have convinced it to offer the device at all 1,740 stores in 49 states.

"Our guests' response to Kindle has been overwhelmingly positive," Mark Schindele, senior VP of Target, said in a statement released Wednesday. The nationwide roll-out is set for June 6.

The Kindle sells for $259 and competes with devices from Apple, Sony, Barnes & Noble and others. The device includes a 3G wireless connection for accessing Amazon's online bookstore. The retailer has a catalog of more than 550,000 books.

The latest Amazon-Target partnership is not the first for the two companies. Target has built its online store on Amazon technology, and the latter company has hosted the site since 2002.

Released in 2007, the Kindle had the biggest share of the e-reader market last year. Amazon's success with the device stems from the retailer's focus on avid readers who appreciate a dedicated gadget for reading digital books, magazines and newspapers.

However, competition this year will be a lot stiffer than in the past. For example, Apple has already sold more than 2 million iPads since releasing the device in April. While the iPad costs $240 more than the Kindle, it also offers a full-color display and can play multimedia, surf the Web and offer many more capabilities.

Amazon also is facing competition from companies offering less-expensive e-readers. Pandigital plans to release in June a $200 device that also plays music and video and browses the Web.