Kindle Fire owners get £4 for free in new Amazon Coins

Amazon is launching its own money, and handing out £4 to every Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HDX owner to get you started.

Available in the US since this summer, Amazon Coins are a currency that you can spend on apps, games and in-app items from the Amazon Appstore and on your Kindle Fire.

Owners of the current Kindle Fire HD and those who have ordered the new Kindle Fire HDX get a free 400 Coins, which translates to four quid to spend.

A Coin is worth a penny, but you get a discount if you buy them in bulk, up to 10 per cent. Because you're buying in advance, it could make Coins useful for limiting your kids' spending on the tablet.

Prices for the Kindle Fire HDX start at £199, if you don't mind 'Special Offers' (ie adverts) on the lock screen. Add a tenner to get rid of the ads.

The 7-inch HDX boasts a crisp high-definition 1,920x1,200-pixel screen, with a quad-core processor and a choice of 16GB, 32GB or 64GB memory. The tablet runs Amazon's heavily customised Fire OS 3.0 Mojito software on top of Android, with features including a Mayday button that opens a video chat with an IT support bod when you need help.

An 8.9-inch version is also in the pipeline, boasting an eye-popping 2,560x1,600-pixel screen.

Is the Kindle Fire HDX a worthy rival to the Google Nexus 7? Are Amazon Coins a good idea? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.