While the 7-inch updated Kindle Fire tablet and the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD version with 16GB of storage will be in Staples stores in September, Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Fire HD with 32GB of storage will be available later in October.

The product launches came less than three months before the start of the holiday season, when many retailers ring up a big chunk of their annual sales.

The presale on Kindle Paperwhite will start next week, Staples said.

Earlier on Thursday, Amazon unveiled the new Kindle Fire tablets in a bid to challenge Apple Inc's dominant iPad and intensify a battle with Google Inc and Microsoft Corp in the booming tablet arena.

Demos Parneros, president of U.S. Retail for Staples, had told Reuters in July that he expected Amazon to introduce several new versions of the popular mobile computing device.

(Reporting By Dhanya Skariachan and Alistair Barr; editing by Gunna Dickson)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency