Amazon on Thursday announced it has trimmed the prices of its Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite devices in Canada. The Kindle is dropping from $89 to $79 and the Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi is being reduced from $139 to $129.
The prices are effective immediately. You can find the former over on amazon.ca/kindle and the latter at amazon.ca/kindlepaperwhite.
The price changes are likely in response to criticism that Amazon is charging Canadians more than Americans, despite the fact that their currencies have been very close in value for a very long time. In fact, it just so happens that today they are exactly the same: CDN$79 is equivalent to $79 and CDN$129 is equivalent to $129.
In January, Amazon finally launched the Kindle line in Canada. In addition to the duo listed above, the company also released the Kindle Paperwhite with 3G and Wi-Fi, but this device is apparently keeping its $199 price tag. Also in January, Amazon Prime arrived in Canada, but was another perfect example of limitations Canadians know all too well: the Instant Video feature remains US-only.
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In December 2012, Amazon launched its Kindle Store in Canada, featuring e-books priced in Canadian dollars. Canadian customers can also access the Canada Kindle Store; Kindle books can be read on Kindle devices as well as on Android smartphones and tablets, iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), as well as Windows Phones using the free Kindle apps.
At the time, Amazon said the store features over 1.5 million Kindle books, directly accessible from Kindle devices. The company also said it includes 250,000 exclusive books customers won’t find anywhere else, 35,000 free books, and 50,000 French-language titles. Those numbers have presumably grown over the last few months.
So what else should Amazon do for its Canadian customers? We think it should extend its price parity to all devices as well as all e-books. Oh, and we really wouldn’t mind getting the Kindle Fire.
Top Image credit: Nicolas Raymond
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