The Kindle 2 is officially making its way out of the US and into over 100 countries.
According to an Amazon press release:
“We are excited to work with Amazon to help readers access books even faster and from significantly more places than ever before, including more than 100 countries and territories around the world through AT&T’s global wireless coverage.”
The Kindle will cost $279 (international) and $259 (in the US) and will still be the American edition running on AT&T’s international network which therefore means costs to download books over the air will be pricey. That said, you can transfer personal documents to your Kindle via USB for free at anytime.
The Kindle will ship with a U.S. power adapter and a micro-USB cable for charging your Kindle via a computer USB port, so you’ll need to ensure you have an international adaptor to get it working for you. The Kindle currently has over 280,000 English-language books to choose from; plus U.S. and international newspapers and magazines.
not coming in my country.. :(
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And to think this is going to be an addition to things like pdas and mobiles…
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Wow – what a disappointment :( After waiting for it for a while I was really ready to buy one and not go for the Sony Reader – now this ‘fake’ international roll-out leaves me doubting..
This comment was originally posted on TheNextWeb.com
In Japan, not such a mess as stated. U.S. plugs work fine here. We will have the browser enabled (as in Hong Kong and Mexico). Finally, buying Kindle editions from the U.S. store is a huge advantage for us here vice buying from the local outfit. Forex rates (the dollar is fading fast) all but eliminate higher prices on some books. True about the blogs. But why on earth would I pay for a blog?
This comment was originally posted on TheNextWeb.com
LOL we should call it the ‘Amazon Swindle’ !!!
Just wait for the mythical iPad from Apple.
And MS is coming with its funky looking dual screen booklet device: ‘The Courier’.
Hell, Asus has also said that they are creating a dual screen reader thingy.
And knowing Asus, it will be cheap!
So, why would you want this shitty black & white Amazon Swindle device anyway?
This comment was originally posted on TheNextWeb.com
I just checked the amazon website and it’s not available in Korea where I live.
This comment was originally posted on TheNextWeb.com
For the errors in Bobbie Johnson’s much-distributed article, see Amazon’s own UK product page.
The actual prices are $11.99 – *TO* $13.99
and the price *INCLUDES* the government Value-Added Tax (VAT) which is about 15-17% with the January 2010 increase.
U.S. prices are $9.99 unless otherwise marked and they are otherwise marked more often than liked.
So the whole premise is off.
It’s true that the Kindle’s experimental web browser will not be activated in Europe so far, while it is going to be activated in Japan, Hong Kong, and Mexico, where wireless is not as expensive as it is known to be in the UK and in the rest of Europe.
As U.S. customer I do use the web browser and the very slow browser is worth quite a bit for me, but I’ve found that most don’t use it. Probably a good third do though, from polls I’ve seen.
But that book pricing? Totally off.
Subscriptions will be fairly expensive though.
For details and links to the sources, you can see
http://bit.ly/kipricing
– Andrys
This comment was originally posted on TheNextWeb.com
Well, not such a rip off for those living in HK. I moved here some years ago from London and I have felt totally ripped off and deprived when going into bookstores in HK. Some bestsellers can be sold at 3 times the retail price in the UK and US.
Bookstores here have very limited titles and is not at all catered for a book lover. The Kindle will be an amazing addition to my life!
This comment was originally posted on TheNextWeb.com
Hi Andrys, thanks for the comment. Regarding UK book prices, even 17% VAT doesn’t account for all of a rise in base price from $9.99 to $11.99, let alone $13.99. None of this confusion would have occurred if Amazon had gone for local stores in each territory. It’s had enough time to sort this out. The Kindle’s international launch is still a mess. I will however note your point about sales tax when I update the post shortly.
This comment was originally posted on TheNextWeb.com
In response to Andrys (I’m the one who wrote the story you’re claiming is inaccurate).
I said that new releases and best-sellers will be charged at $13.99, versus $9.99. Not all books. $11.99 is the low water mark for books in the EU; American Kindle store books go lower than $9.99 – I was trying to compare oranges with oranges.
And yes, it includes VAT on ebooks, which is levied in EU states. But that accounts for less than half of the $4 hike.
Note: Amazon contacted me to object to the fact that we said there was a “substantial” increase on all foreign sales – despite the fact EVERY country is seeing at least a 20% increase (let’s ignore forex rates, we all know how they can fluctuate).
These could all be sorted out by local stores, of course, but the company has not said that prices would go down as a result of that happening.
This comment was originally posted on TheNextWeb.com
Also Andrys, check Bobbie Johnson’s comment below.
This comment was originally posted on TheNextWeb.com
Thanks for the comment Bobbie. Let’s hope Amazon can sort this mess out – eventually.
This comment was originally posted on TheNextWeb.com
VAT in most EU countries is actually around the 20% mark. UK has lowest rate at the moment (along with Luxembourg) so if VAT is at 20% and there is a 20% increase in costs doesn’t this all even out? Also economies of scale would dictate that running this in the EU will be more expensive than the US? This would explain any additional fees I assume. Am I missing something?
Forgetting the Kindle for a second, why does the EU apply VAT to Ebooks at the full rate. Most EU countries have a reduced rate (UK no VAT). Shouldn’t the EU be encouraging E books purely from an environmental perspective?
This comment was originally posted on TheNextWeb.com
I am in the UK – have been very interested in getting a Kindle as Amazon have a huge catalogue of Kindle editions. However, most of the books I have been looking at come up as “Kindle edition not available in the UK for copyright reasons”. That and the higher prices for Kindle editions seem to make it not worth bothering about at the moment.
This comment was originally posted on TheNextWeb.com
It seems to me that everyone’s complaints should be targeted toward your government officials for charging such a ridiculously high tax on something that doesn’t even really exist.
And Amazon stated that they were working toward setting up the Amazon UK website for the Kindle.
This comment was originally posted on TheNextWeb.com