Kindle to come to Blighty on 19 October Kindle will come to the UK on 19 October, Amazon has said. It's not a formal, British version. Rather, the online retailer's US wing will now take orders from overseas buyers and ship the e-book reader out for an all in price of $279 (£175/€190) plus shipping and import taxes. These extras takes the total to $344.98 (£217) for …
Did I read it right? You have to pay 99 American Cents per megabyte to transfer free books onto the device?
The article says:
It also charges 99c per megabyte if you want to transfer your own files wirelessly.
Does this include over Wifi? Or is that just over the mobile network? I undertand charging to get free stuff via the mobile network as bandwidth needs to be paid for ...
Putting aside all the wunnerful tech 'n' all (which is really just a means to an end, and therefore not worth the average user getting excited about). What we have here is something a little smaller than an 80 x 24 line monochrome display .... the sort of thing we had on VDUs in the 70's.
Fine: it might use wizzy new tech. Fine: it might run off batteries. Fine: it might download (and then take away fro you) text over a wireless connection. But ultimately it's just a substitute for a book - and given the fiddly interface, small screen and large case size, not a very good one.
Thanks, but no thanks. For £200 I'd buy a netbook.
Kindle is a horribly proprietary device, but its ability to receive content over the air was a unique selling point. Given that this feature isn't going to work in the UK, why would anyone want to buy a Kindle?
I think Amazon is going to have to do more than just allow shipping. Devices like the Sony Reader are already available in the UK, support more formats, and work with multiple online stores including US ones like Barnes & Noble.
Soon you too can pay to have the licence to read books as long as the publisher doesn't throw a hissy fit, as long as it isn't stolen and as long as it works. I look forward to buying old, well-thumbed copies of future classics on the Kindle in secondhand bookstores in the decades to come.
"The device's built-in 3G and Wi-Fi networking will both operate over here, though Amazon didn't say which UK carrier's SIM is embedded in the device."
It doesn't, if this is the US & International Wireless version they posted about on Engadget. It uses AT&T roaming, and has a premium of $1.99 per item downloaded internationally.
It's probably better to wait for a proper UK version.
Too little, too late, too expensive.
Erroneous 1984 quote:
>"Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our world will be progress toward more pain."<
(Big Brother: Obvious)
"Being a US product, Kindle comes with a US power supply, Amazon admitted."
Sorry! This is a product being supplied to the UK market. We're several decades down the road from US industries totally ignorant attitude that "there are other countries out there somewhere but if we forget their local differences and force them to use US standards that'll be ok".
This should have been a full UK version supplied in the UK without stupid shipping costs.
Major FAIL for Amazon !!
There's an iPhone version of Kindle, will that now be available on the UK App Store or is Amazon's GameBoy the only option available?
I used to use eReader to buy books for my iPhone but they've been forced to obey region restrictions now which means most books are unavailable for the UK...
According to other sites, this is a GSM-based Kindle, ostensibly for AT&T in the US, but presumably it could work with any GSM carrier. I wonder if they've just signed an agreement with AT&Ts UK roaming partner(s) to allow them to use the AT&T APNs "free" even when roaming which would presumably mean the device didn't need to be reconfigured specifically for a UK SIM.
I'm not sure what this device is supposed to be for ... I certainly can't see any huge advantages over a notebook.
When this kind of gadget is £50, non-proprietary, 100% private and displays any and all kinds of pdf, txt. doc, djvu, etc I care to throw at it, then give me a call, Amazon. Until then, I'm sure it'll keep the nerds happy...
I wanted a kindle as there are a number of books for my sony reader that, in the uk, cost more in ebook format than for the hard back edition. There were also books in the Kindle store that I just couldn't get over here.
If you check the list of books available when you are logged in with a UK account there are considerably less than originally listed. None of the books I want are listed anymore as they are 'not available to UK customers'. GREAT!
Cancelling pre-order as soon as I've posted this!!!
After reading about that wally losing his notes off his unit when they wiped 1984 off the device, Amazon can get stuffed. I'll buy something that at least allows me to shove in an SD card with the tech docs and manuals I want without risk of them being removed or paying for the privilege!
There are 116828 fiction books for US customers, but only 88856 for UK customers.
You can bet most of the missing books are new releases too! The 4 newly released books I was after are not available to UK customers, popular authors too (Terry Pratchett, Iain Banks, Audrey Niffeneger, etc).
I guess the UK publishers don't want Amazon interfering with their riduculous ebook pricing structure!
> Being a US product
And that's the key. ISTM that all Amazon are doing is looking for a market where they can (cheaply) dump unsold stock. Whether they are truly ignorant of the UK market, presuming we're just a 51st state as we speak a language with a lot of the same words they have - or whether it's a genuine feeling that we'll lap up their out of date (this thing was released in america in Oct 2008) tech I don't know. Either way they're in for a shock - especially if they think we use 110Volts, too!
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