Amazon Hobbles Features For International Kindle

Barence writes "Amazon has stripped several key features out of the international edition of the Kindle, PC Pro has discovered. Newspapers and magazines are delivered without any photos, and the web browser has been disabled, presumably because Amazon doesn't want to foot the data bill. There's also a 40% premium on books bought via the Amazon store. 'International customers do pay a higher price for their books than US customers due to higher operating costs outside of the US,' an Amazon spokesperson confessed."

Comments

Another troll summary?

[radish]

1) The browser is not a "key feature" - it's barely useable and not an advertised/supported feature anyway.
2) Calling the Amazon explanation a "confession" seems a little biased...sounds quite reasonable to me to charge more if their costs are higher.

Re:Another troll summary?

[chadenright]

Logically speaking, why would their operating costs be any higher? They aren't actually shipping books around--they're shipping data. And that data is probably hosted on the same servers, maybe even the same bits as their US products.

A more reasonable explanation, in my opinion, is that pictures are being stripped and the internet locked down so they aren't liable under chinese law for anyone who evades the eWall of China. And they're charging more because they think they can get away with charging more, leading to higher profits.

That would be like me putting a download on my site and saying "If you live in the US, click HERE so I can charge you $10 usd. If you do not live in the US, click HERE so I can charge you $14 usd."

Re:Another troll summary?

[Red Flayer]

2) Calling the Amazon explanation a "confession" seems a little biased...sounds quite reasonable to me to charge more if their costs are higher.

No offense, but if you accept that explanation, you're one of the suckers their PR people spew that line for. That's not why they are charging more. Prices are set based upon maximizing profitability, not based on "cost + some acceptable profit margin".

They've made the determination that they'll make more money selling overseas at a higher price (even if they sell fewer units). Their "higher costs" explanation is just a standard explanation for "we're going to charge more in a certain market because we've determined that's how we'll make the most money".

A market for middle men?

[maillemaker]

What is to stop someone from buying "American" book and reselling them to European customers for, say, only a 10% markup?

Oh, let me guess - no interoperability / not an open format.

Then this should be true also:

[maillemaker]

[b]There's nothing inherently wrong with adjusting your product for the market your selling in.[/b]

Then there should be nothing inherently wrong with me buying a product in any market available to me to buy from.

Too Confused To Make Heads Or Tails?

[tunapez]

Here's a brilliant idea, DON'T BUY IT! Here is a WANT(read: not NEED) that costs way too much for it's purpose and is hobbled every time the lawyers gets a scent of blood or a penny. Vote with the only thing these corp's care about, your money! Stop being the consumption drone the media tells you to be!!!!

Too much to ask, I guess. Gotta get the new Droid...oh my, it's a phone, too? And the new Lana Johannah album, she's hawt! And of course, them 20" rims for the Prius, they save batteries cuz they are cooler!

/common sense