According to a Monday announcement by AT&T, Amazon. com’s Kindle electronic book reader will become available at the carrier’s stores from Sunday, March 6.

The announcement implies that Sunday onwards, interested buyers can purchase the Kindle 3G e-reader in AT&T’s brick-and-mortar stores, for the same amount as that listed on Amazon. com – that is, $189.

However, quite unlike with tablets or smartphones, buyers will not be required to commit to AT&T’s monthly data plan to get the Kindle. Once the e-reader is purchased by the people, the cost of monthly data fees – for surfing the Web and downloading as many books as they want – will be ingest by Amazon.

With the Kindle having become the best-ever selling item from Amazon, giving a notable boost to the sales at the world's biggest online retailer, the AT&T move to sell the device indicates that the carrier is looking to bank on the Kindle’s popularity to attract more customers to its stores; thereby helping the company sell more data plans.

Talking about the sale of the Kindle at the AT&T stores, Glenn Lurie - president of emerging devices at the carrier - said in a statement: “As the first dedicated e-reader offered in our stores, we are confident the Kindle will be an attractive addition to our in store connected devices lineup.”