Kindle goes worldwide

[Bob The Skutter]

Amazon are starting sales of their Kindle eBook around the world, international customers will have to buy the device through Amazon.com and pay local taxes and duties as well as international shipping costs. Not only that, but it looks like they will have to pay a premium on the book prices too. Here in the UK it'll be a 40% increase in price.

From The Guardian

Amazon has admitted that international users of its Kindle book reader will be paying significantly more to buy books than their American counterparts.
Since announcing the worldwide launch of the Kindle on Wednesday, many users had questioned whether they would be forced to pay more for downloading books wirelessly to the £200 gadget. Over the past two days, the company had attempted to allay those fears by insisting that foreign users would not be paying extra for downloads.
It has now emerged, however, that the internet retail giant will be charging higher prices for consumers outside the United States.
When asked by the Guardian precisely how much downloads for different customers would cost, an Amazon.co.uk spokesman revealed that foreign customers 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.
It is in strict contrast to earlier statements by the company, which said specifically that "there are no additional fees for international customers

It goes on to explain the reason for this is that they couldn't reach a deal for the data downloads internationally they just entered an agreement with AT&T which means international users are basically paying for the roaming charges on the mobile phone network.

I'm interested in getting a Kindle, but why the hell has it taken so long for this to happen, and why have they not been able to deal with international mobile networks?

 

[Geckothan]

I'm not keen on Amazon owning all of my books. I think I'll stick to real ones.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I can understand where you're coming from. I'm reluctant to move over to digital distribution myself. I don't like the idea of waking up one day and my access to things I have bought has just been taken away. Either by loss of rights by the company supplying it, or hardware fault meaning I lost my downloads and can't get them back.