Amazon Kindle now available outside US, plus price drop
amazon.com
amazon.com
It is also on the front page of amazon.co.jp right now, where I hoped to order it from (I get free shipping from them). They have a wonderful letter from Jeff Bezos (translated into Japanese -- some nice touches by the translator, incidentally) and if you click anywhere in it you get directed to the page on amazon.com to buy.
That is, needless to say, written totally in English. And which won't support the payment methods used by most of the customers of amazon.co.jp. (Credit card penetration is pretty low here -- most people I know use bank transfer or payment at the convenience store.)
I mention this just to point out that Internationalization Is Hard, even for big billion dollar companies. I'll be ordering mine by the end of the day.
Really? I think the average internet user in Japan does have a credit card. It's just that people don't use it as often as Americans do.
Of course the English interface will filter out most of them.
http://blogkindle.com/2009/10/international-release-of-kindl...
Canada: ack pfft.
But they say they'll have it soon. I wonder what the hold up is there.
I am also not too happy with the idea of the wireless data connection contract being between my local telco and Amazon. I would be perfectly happy to pay my connection fees in proportion with my consumption.
I also want the DX, not the II.
On the other hand, I am happy they finally made HDSPA/EDGE/GPRS available. It seemed to me a completely stupid move to use a mostly US-only technology.
That also should prompt a move from Sony. I think I will wait for now. Interesting developments will come.
Amazon has no control over content you add on to it yourself; they never know about your own PDFs. This is the major reason why I bought the device and what I mostly use it for. I seldom buy Kindle books, and I get those on the Kindle that I just want to read and don't particularly care what happens in the long run.
On the remote erasing feature, I really, sincerely doubt they would ever try that shit again. The amount of bad publicity this earned them, it'd be ridiculous for them to even imply doing it. Bezos personally apologized for it and if they do it again, it would cost him his credibility.
Hello,
We are writing to inform you that we need to refund your purchase of the book 'The Little Prince or Le Petit Prince ILLUSTRATED (mobi).'. This book was added to our catalog by a third-party who we now believe did not have the rights to make the book available for sale. We will be removing the book from our servers, making it unavailable for re-downloading from your archived items. Any copies you already have on your Kindle devices will not be removed, but you may choose to remove any such copies yourself.
The total refund amount of $0.99 will be credited to your account in 3-5 business days.
The device obeys orders from Amazon, period. It also obeys your orders unless they conflict with what Amazon ordered.
So much for your gadget.
I see no reason to believe they have no way to examine the contents of your device.
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2009/10/news_fro...
Excerpt:
* They're using their monopsony position to fuck over their suppliers (i.e. the publishers) in a manner that threatens a catastrophic crash in author royalties in the medium term (up to 5 years). NB: as a reader, you may enjoy the short term price benefit, but you'll pay for it in the long term in reduction of choice.
* Their actions may start a trans-Atlantic price war between publishers, to the detriment of authors (again, in the medium term).
The reason I though why local Amazon stores are deciding factor is that they already know the market there, have presence, etc.
My biggest blocking factor is actually the price of the kindle books. When a typical books costs $15, and kindle version is $9.99, it seems to me a bit overpriced. (but of course, maybe it's not Amazons fault, but the author's guild).
They are different though: e-Ink is way better than LCD for reading outside, in bright light settings. I bought a Sony reader couple of months ago, never expected such a move from Amazon. They must have negotiated with hundreds of mobile operators around the world.
And I agree that the e-Ink screen is much better for reading than a tablet ever could be. I can use the Kindle anywhere I could read a normal book, including out in the sun, without having to worry about the fatigue you get when using monitors or other backlit screens.
Still - you are right the price is steep given that you are then going to be buying more product from Amazon over the lifetime of the device (I wonder what this is likely to be).
Could be interesting to see what Apple have on offer later in the year with their new device - could do some interesting things to both the device and content price points.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/ar...
Also "Service fees for transferring personal documents via Whispernet are currently $.99 per megabyte." -- but I think that might already be the case for the US Kindle. That's similar to the fee I pay for basic wireless data service.
"Kindle (U.S. Wireless) user: We'll send personal documents to your Kindle via Whispernet while inside the U.S. wireless coverage area for a fee of $.15 per megabyte.
Kindle (U.S. & International Wireless) user living in the United States: If you transfer personal documents to your Kindle via Whispernet while inside the United States, the fee is $ .15 per megabyte. When travelling outside the United States, a fee of $.99 per megabyte will apply.
Kindle (U.S. & International Wireless) user living outside the United States: We'll send personal files to your Kindle via Whispernet for a fee of $ .99 (USD) per megabyte anywhere in the world you access Whispernet service."
Give me one I can insert a SIM card into and browse on my dime. And while they are at it, please, give me one that has no backdoors.
I still want a Kindle, but hesitate... the FUD from Apple and Pixel Qi is working on me. :-)
I have other tech books as PDF's that I've brought (Not from the amazon store) which work well on the machine I'm coding on, just doesn't translate well when viewing on the Kindle. So if you are thinking of trying it out, don't buy from the Amazon store, as you will want to view them on your local machine.