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Kindle Finally Ready For Global Distribution

Posted by Soulskill on from the not-enough-people-in-the-us-read-books dept.

geirnord writes "Previously a US-only device, the Amazon Kindle 2 is now finally available in an international edition. The new device is identical to the Kindle 2, with the exception of Edge and 3G support. That means Whispernet-like functionality over most of the world." Reader pasm notes a report at The Guardian which points out higher ebook prices for international Kindle users. "When asked by the Guardian precisely how much downloads would cost, an Amazon.co.uk spokesman revealed that foreign customers — including those in Britain — would be paying $13.99 (£8.75) per book instead of the American price of $9.99 (£6.25). That amounts to a 40% premium for the same title." The spokesman said the higher prices reflected higher operating costs and VAT rates.

12 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. Not in Canada by Tridus · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's available all over the world, but not in Canada.

    According to the Globe and Mail, that is because until next month, there is only one network in Canada capable of carrying it (Rogers). In November, Bell and Telus will also be capable of carrying it.

    We'll see.

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/telecom-competition-behind-kindle-delay/article1317633/

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    -- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
    1. Re:Not in Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's available all over the world, but not in Canada.

      True.

      According to the Globe and Mail, that is because until next month, there is only one network in Canada capable of carrying it (Rogers). In November, Bell and Telus will also be capable of carrying it.

      Typical crappy reporting by the Globe and Mail. It is true that the new "global" kindle is a gsm device, and there is only one gsm operator in Canada (rogers).

      BUT, the US Kindle is NOT A GSM DEVICE. The US Kindle is a CDMA device. There are two CDMA operators in Canada, Bell and Telus.

      Amazon could easily bring the CDMA version to Canada.

      Not only does Canuckistan suffer from the crappiest wireless service in the OECD, and pay the highest prices for wireless service in the OECD, we also have some of the crappiest reporting about wireless service.

      For non-Canadian wondering why this is the case, Canadian law for decades has said that only Canadian companies may operate a telecom network, so big foreign operators like Vodaphone & T-Mobile aren't allowed in.

      And the previous Liberal government of Canada allowed 2 of the large players to purchase their rivals, leaving Canadians with 3 cell phone carriers who don't compete very much with each other. Why should they?

  2. VAT on Books in Europe Trending Towards 0%-5% by meehawl · · Score: 4, Informative

    Under the VAT Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006, the suggested EU VAT rate for books (and children's nappies!) is the reduced rate of 5%. Many countries, such as Ireland, the UK, and Poland, for example, have charged zero percent VAT on books for years. Amazon is, as usual, full of it.

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    Da Blog
    1. Re:VAT on Books in Europe Trending Towards 0%-5% by Narpak · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I also wonder how many times you'll be able to download a book you have purchased.
      Some Kindle books have secret caps on the number of times you can download them.
      Kindle’s DRM.

      If these stories are true then the Kindle is, in my eyes, nothing but a rip-off.

      --
      The Long Now Foundation
    2. Re:VAT on Books in Europe Trending Towards 0%-5% by Idiomatick · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I wonder how much operating costs would be. Is the internet is the wireless net in Britain really a lot more expensive? They do realize that shipping a product online has the same operating costs anywhere on the earth... since you can do it from anywhere in the Earth. The whole thing is total BS.

      I think the real reason is, Europeans are used to taking it in the ass from electronics industries why not do that too? Yay +40% on anything that includes a chip for no reason... apparently on files now too.

    3. Re:VAT on Books in Europe Trending Towards 0%-5% by Reaperducer · · Score: 3, Informative

      Amazon is, as usual, full of it.

      Is Amazon full of it, or are you jumping to uninformed conclusions?

      The Kindle doesn't read books, it reads e-books, which are considered and taxed as software in many locales.

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      -- I'm old enough to have lived through six different meanings of the word "hacker."
    4. Re:VAT on Books in Europe Trending Towards 0%-5% by cdrguru · · Score: 3, Informative

      Everyone seems to think that the distribution of physical books is somehow expensive and troublesome. It isn't.

      The publisher puts the books into boxes and ships the box full of books (maybe 25 of them) for $10. That works out to be around $0.40 per book, delivered to the store.

      The cost of printing a softcover/paperback book is less than $2. You can have your very own book printed in small quantities for this price. So where does all the money go for a $20 currently popular book?

      You ever think it might go to the publisher that fronted the author money, paid for the editors, marketed the book and promoted it? Gosh, those costs might not change for an eBook at all.

      Guess what? Physical books aren't that expensive to distribute, and eBooks have almost identical costs. Sure on a $20 book you might save $2.50 but only $2.50. Waiting for the $1 currently popular eBook? You will be waiting a long time.

  3. That's nothing by A+Friendly+Troll · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I recently bought a monitor for exactly double its price in the USA.

    For commodity hardware, a rule of 1.5x the US price is quite accurate, but for those a little bit more rare, it goes all the way up to 2.5x. If the Kindle becomes available here (which I strongly doubt), I would fully expect a price of $550-600.

    P.S. The VAT on books here is 0%.

  4. When will somebody make a DOCUMENT reader? by mark-t · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If I want to read fiction, I can easily grab a book and read it... where a portable device is *really* handy, however, is being able to carry a large number of books in a small space at once... such as reference material, and it is impractical to carry some 50 to 70 odd pounds of books everywhere. Thus, I want a portable device for reading documents that have already been formatted for 8.5x11, usable in any lighting condition where one could otherwise read conventional printed material (ie, laptop and notebook screens are not adequate because they are not easily readable in bright sunlight). Plastic Logic is coming out with a 10.4" diagonal screen reader soon that satisfies this contrast requirement, but even that's still about a third smaller than a full letter-sized screen.

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    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
  5. It's not really ready by macshit · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Note that this "international edition" still has the same gimped fonts as the "U.S. edition", which basically only contains latin characters.

    This seems very silly, given that the kindle actually seems perfectly capable of using a default font with much larger coverage: someone released a patch that changes the default kindle font to be Google's wide-coverage (e.g. including CJK characters) "DroidSansFallback" font! (the page I linked to contains two patches, for two different fonts). It would have almost trivial for Amazon to do something similar (and they could have done a better job).

    I don't know what Amazon is thinking, but this is a pretty pathetic attempt at an "international" kindle.

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    We live, as we dream -- alone....
  6. VAT Directives by meehawl · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The EU VAT policy directives specifically categorise ebooks and audio books as books, and thus *supposed* to be within the reduced VAT bands.

    Following its policy line in the field of reduced rates of VAT established in its Communication of July 2007 (COM (2007) 380 final), the Commission adopted a proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 2006/112/EC as regards reduced rates of VAT : COM(2008)428: ...
    allow reduced rates for:

            * children's nappies;
            * audio books, CD's, CD-ROMs or other physical support that predominantly reproduce the same information content as printed books;
            * few other technical adaptations already proposed in 2003, which are still valid, as equipment, aids and other appliances for disabled or services linked with waste treatment, etc.

    Amazon has a long history of basically ignoring EU law when it suits it. For example, Amazon.co.UK insisted for years on charging for VAT for books delivered to Ireland (when the UK still charged VAT). Did it refund that improperly charged VAT for Irish customers when it finally relented? No. See also: One-Click Patent. Amazon likes to borrow a lot of the oxygen about the freedom of information and open markets and the disincentivising quality of software patents, etc, but when it comes down to it, it's as aggressive and exclusionary and predatory as Apple or Microsoft.

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    Da Blog
  7. Who cares? by JustNiz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Kindle = way too much Amazon lock-in, control and DRM.

    Just give me an e-book reader that supports standard formats, with no wireless or DRM please.