Free 1-day shipping for Kindle Int'l placed Dec 23

Just a reminder for Dec. 23, Wednesday, for any last-minute Kindle-interested people who would like one delivered by Christmas Eve.  This is just a re-posting of the announcement of the morning of Dec. 22, for today.

Amazon has announced "FREE One-Day Shipping on all Kindle orders for shipment in the continental United States made on Dec. 23. "

That's in That was in addition to the still free Two-Day Shipping on Dec. 22 for the Kindle Int'l per details on their Christmas shipping page.  It says by 8PM PST but the deadline depends on the item involved. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Official Kindle International release today

Here are a couple of people in the Paris Tube who didn't want to wait for an international Kindle (released today) and apparently used a work-around to get the U.S.-only Kindle.  There are quite a lot of them on the Amazon forums.  This is often called a sighting of Kindles in the wild.

This article from Australia was just too fun to read, reminding me of how so many of us feel when we get our Kindles, a feeling that tends to stay with many.

  As I read around the Net, I see that some value the pure look of other configurations and are ready to buy based on that without considering features and even say that wireless access isn't a big deal or that the slow but free 24/7 Kindle web browser for times it can be useful is better replaced by paying for smartphone access at $360 per year minimum.

We all value different things, but the Kindle definitely has opened up a world of interest in reading *books* again - not just surfing the web (as I like to do) - and it's been so successful at this that we now have a plethora of interesting competing brands and models coming at us, which is only good for the consumer.

The writer of this magazine article opens with this:

' HUGE PHOTO GALLERY | We've got it in our hot little hands -- the first 'international' Kindle.
...
It would be an understatement to say that we were excited to be given a first look at the new Amazon Kindle for international markets.  In the face of impending competition from major competitors like Barnes and Noble and Apple, Amazon has busted the Kindle out of its United States-only shackles and released it to Australia (and other countries around the world). '

The (large) photos are much better than seen in the average display in Net articles.  This report consists of 6 pages, with titles Intro, First look at the Kindle, Reading a book on the Kindle, Buying books over Whispernet, Getting your morning newspaper on Kindle, and Something your printed paper can't do.

Re their image that I used (above, left), the writer says:

' One of the first things you notice about a Kindle is how amazing its screen is under bright light. This pic, shot in bright sunlight, shows how good the screen is. In fact, the brighter the light shining on the screen, the more contrast you get -- just like real paper. '

That's true, and it's also true that it's quite grayish in dimmer light.  But I use a clip-on light if it's too dark, as I do for a physical book.  The one I link to has a pad under the upper clamp portion which helps protect the Kindle.

K. Chant, a commenter from the UK, found that the subscription prices there are quite a bit higher than for the U.S. though -- $23 per month vs $10 per month here.  I suppose this is because of daily wireless access at the higher price in Europe, but that's just speculation on my part.  It's something Europeans should know about in advance though.

Plastic Logic is announcing today a bit more of what their Spring debut model will be like, but as too usual they don't demo a working model and still won't have a price until January. They named it "Que" and have two new pictures.  They've already said they aren't looking at the low-end for pricing but are gearing it toward business people, and it looks very good for business, so far.  

Per one article " Richard Archuleta, the company’s chief, says that the Que is a proReader that is not competing against Amazon’s Kindle as it can be used to sketch / edit documents, meaning that the device will be used by mobile professionals in document management areas. " Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Kindle 2 International and actual UK vs U.S. book pricing - Update

UPDATE - Oct 12 - Australia's The Age just copied The Guardian story without checking Amazon's Australia country-info on product page for the International Kindle.
  The Age and other repeating-newspapers claim it's $13.99 for books in Australia and a 40% increase while the product page says $11.99 unless marked otherwise.  Whatever happened to first-level fact checking?
  Meanwhile MediaBistro understandably picked it up and reports that "Jeremy Fisher, executive director of the 3,000-member Society, thinks Australian writers should avoid the Kindle for these pricey reasons."

---

Main blog entry from Oct. 10
Well, a column by writer Bobbie Johnson that I briefly referenced yesterday for citing an unreasonably-high pricing calculation for the cost of providing a book for UK residents via 'roaming' mechanisms (at the same time that a sibling Guardian-column quoted an Amazon spokesperson saying there would be "no" roaming fees for UK residents in the UK) was updated by Johnson to report that, per a conversation he had with an Amazon rep, Amazon "confirmed" they will be charging a "premium" for UK residents and then he linked us to another column of his that said "International Buyers to be charged 40% more per book" than U.S. customers are - an alarmist column that did anger readers who believed it.

  I bring this up because today Twitter is alive with 'tweets' about other newspapers picking it up, one after the other, and just repeating it as fact.  That's nothing new but it's unnecessary and definitely misleading.

  Ironically, that was an update to a column in which Johnson originally opined that American customers were subsidizing the UK customers' higher costs for Amazon.

  Johnson cited the one UK price of $13.99 despite the Amazon product page for the UK Kindle specifically saying, from the announcement day:

' Free Wireless: ... No monthly fees, service plans, or hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots.  For non-U.S. customers, there are also no additional charges for wireless delivery in or outside your home country...

  Low Book Prices: New York Times® Best Sellers and New Releases are $11.99 to $13.99 (prices include VAT), unless marked otherwise. You'll also find many books for less - over 70,000 titles are priced under $5.99. '

First, Value Added Tax charged by Great Britain is *included* in the book price.  That's not an Amazon premium charge.
  As of January the VAT will be nearly 17% over the cost of the book.
And the base price of the range is $11.99, not $13.99. In the U.S. bestsellers are $9.99 and up.

So, no, it's not generally 40% over the cost in the U.S.  Even at the $13.99 range, U.S. Kindle owners are aware some bestsellers are not selling for only $9.99, too often going for as much as $15  And, again, the int'l pricing includes the government's value-added tax and is not a charge for the book. (Edited per correction by Jim.)

However, the UK will not have the experimental web browser, which some of us value having.  And I guess they won't have it unless or until the wireless-provider pricing is low enough in affected countries to cover the cost of that as Sprint does here in the U.S.   Countries which WILL have the web-browser enabled are Mexico, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.

For added irony, Johnson linked us to another Guardian article, this one by Charles Arthur, who spoke with Amazon's SVP in charge of the Kindle, Stephen Kessel, who reiterated Amazon's policy (I quoted this yesterday) that UK residents won't be paying roaming charges at home nor in the U.S.  This was why Johnson's first focus was that it seemed to him that U.S. residents would be subsidizing UK Kindle users.

  The problem for those in the UK is that they can buy books for now only from the U.S. Amazon store.  This means a possible import/customs fee -- these don't apply to hard-cover books but somehow appear to be in the mix for e-books (which the government can change).  However, those also are not Amazon book charges.  But prospective buyers will need to factor that in.

So, as this 40% added Amazon-charge for UK customers rumor percolates around the globe, maybe some will know it's not true, even if repeated by 50 newpapers and online sites.

  The basic price difference in the bestseller price-range for both U.S. and U.K. is 17% - near the cost of the Value Added Tax charged over there.   And here are additions from knowledgeable people commenting to the article.

===
"Pricing sounds quite logical, VAT will be 15% or 17.5% from 1 January which does explain part of the price differential vs. a print book. Why is this?
Surely the EU should be promoting E-books from a green perspective and allow no VAT like the paper format?

It would also make sense that from a scale perspective that costs in the other countries will be more than the US where there is a bigger market."
  [ by jimbob70 ]

_______
"On the pricing thing. A lot of it has to do with UK publishers charging higher list price for their ebooks than US publishers.

For example Audrey Niffenegger's new book Her Fearful Symmetry...

US list price $26.99 (approx 17.02)
UK list price 21.84 (approx $34.63) "
  [ by BrianEb ]

_______

Photo credit: L.A. Times Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Kindle 2 International - Follow-up news 10-09-09 - Update

Follow-up news on the Kindle 2  International after the big splash on Tuesday.

Mildly updated the "kindlecountries" file of country-specific Kindle information formatted from the Amazon page to include the news/rumors in New Zealand and Canada.

NEW ZEALAND
Kindle may yet come to New Zealand per New Zealand PC World's James Heffield.

Vodaphone's Paul Brislen says that Vodaphone is in "deep discussions" with Amazon to bring the K2i to New Zealand. However, he wouldn't speculate on how likely a deal with Amazon is or when it might happen and wasn't sure whether other telecommuications providers were also in negotiation with Amazon.

Telecom spokesperson Rebecca Earl was non-commital about ANYthing, confirming nothing but saying the company could "see the appeal of the Kindle" and was exploring options for "a device of this type."


AMAZON IN NEGOTATIONS WITH 3 CANADIAN COMPANIES?
The Globe & Mail reports that Amazon has 3 possible partners in Canada now while Amazon is shopping around for the best deal on the cost of providing Kindle owners wireless capability there.

If the problem lay with the inability to find a wireless carrier at a doable price, Amazon could have offered Canada the same non-wireless option it offered other countries, but someone in the know says it's a matter of time and deciding which company will handle it.
Rogers, an AT&T partner, had seemed the only source (maybe causing it to keep its pricing higher?) but Bell and Telus are going live with their next generation network earlier than expected, in November, which has implications for the holiday season.
The article ends with yet another report that a Canadian Kindle user reported to the newspaper that he has been able, in the last month, to download wirelessly in Canada.


UK/EUROPEAN MOBILE PROVIDERS DESCRIBED AS SURPRISED BY KINDLE INT'L
According to Mobil Phone News's Luke McKinney, Vodafone and O2 are "in charge of wireless signals" in the UK but they seem to have been caught off guard, judging from their press releases, by Amazon's latest news. McKinney feels it's "especially odd considering Amazon’s previous statement that they couldn’t unleash their equipment in the UK until extensive negotiations with telecoms companies were complete."

He writes that UK mobile service is "notoriously provincial" with "various networks having hotspots and not-spots."


THE GUARDIAN (UK) ON ROAMING CHARGES PAID BY VISITING AMERICANS
The writer asks why Amazon UK didn't launch it -- I think it's because they don't have the serving technology, Kindle billing and Kindle customer service support setup there yet. But the article references another Guardian article in which Amazon SVP Stephen Kessel spoke with the Guardian writer and mentioned the Kindle Int'l is not shipping until after the Frankfurt Book Fair, where publishers work their deals). I'm not sure how that relates to the question.

But the import tax situation then for UK residents is not attractive. The UK Value-Added Taxes are included in the cost of the books there.

Kessel did say, ""In the future we plan to introduce a UK-centric experience to allow people in Britain to purchase Kindle and Kindle books," Kessel said."

In connection with the puzzlement of UK wireless providers, The Guardian adds:

' Another mystifying question: which mobile network is Amazon going to use? AT&T, its partner in the US, doesn't have a presence in the UK. So who is Amazon's UK mobile network? Its earlier statements this morning were models of non-clarity:

"Kindle with international wireless uses advanced 3G GSM technology to power Amazon's wireless delivery system 'Whispernet' over the AT&T Global Network."

Could Kessel elucidate? Is Amazon going to be a mobile virtual network operator in the UK, like Virgin, renting airtime from the main four networks (O2, Orange, Vodafone and 3)?

"AT&T is through their network of partnerships providing 3G network coverage to Kindle and Whispernet across 100 countries." Er, OK, so which network in the UK? "You'd have to ask AT&T." We intend to. But he said that there will be no "roaming" charges; if you're a UK Kindle buyer you won't get any charges using it in the UK from a mobile network. What about a UK Kindle owner in the US - would they see roaming charges? "You pay no roaming charges."

[ What ? ]

Then there's the final question, relating to books and publication rights, which has exercised publishers and authors and agents. You'll know that some books are published in some countries, but not in others. These are often the subject of big rights bids.
. . .
Even so, we've heard that if you subscribe to UK papers on a Kindle in the UK that you may not be able to get images downloaded (there might be copyright issues). We're seeking confirmation on that. '

The commenters to that article are not overenthused about e-readers in general.

Returning to the article about "Roaming Charges paid by Americans" - that takes official customer-rates for 'roaming' rates to a situation in which the wireless will be provided by partners who are right there in the UK and comes up with an unreasonably high figure for costs there as a result, and even U.S's Sprint is said to charge relatively little to Amazon for unused bandwidth relative to what they'd charge individual customers.

Every article referenced from the Guardian has wholly different points of view on this.


FUN MUSINGS by JIM CRAMER on AMAZON
This is Cramer's intro to a story for which have to sign up to read it in full, which I didn't.  Since it's used as a lead and lure for a 14-day trial, I'll expand the possible audience here.  Cramer writes:

' Do you know that Amazon is closing in on its all-time high? Do you know that what was once considered the most overvalued stock in the world is now starting to be viewed as cheap, even as it goes higher, because of the tremendous scale it is reaching and the company's effort to drive down product pricing?

When I heard about still one more price cut for the Kindle, it dawned on me. Amazon is Ford, and Jeff Bezos is Henry Ford, without the cranky anti-Semitism and braggadocio demeanor, although I never heard Ford laugh, so I don't know if they have that in common. Ford decided to make cars for the masses, and with it, he broke down the price barriers and grabbed market share and mind share and scale, making it so that his company was so rich that he could afford to pay... '

OFF-TOPIC, BUT INTERESTING BEZOS/GOOGLE STORY
'...Kara Swisher at All Things D has details from Ken Auletta’s upcoming book, “Googled: The End of the World as We Know It, says TechFlash.
  Among the juicy tidbits: Bezos invested $250,000 in then-startup Google in 1998 at 4 cents a share. The Amazon CEO told Auletta that he “just fell in love with” Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at their first meeting in a Silicon Valley garage.  While it’s not clear what Bezos did with his piece of Google, Swisher notes that his stock would be worth $1.6 billion today. '

 Ouch!  The article also mentions Amazon's Google-search-challenger A9 which did not do well.  The A9 unit still provides the searches for its ecommerce sites.  The Amazon forums had no searches for the last 2 years but added a very fast, effective one last month.
  Jeff Bezos was an early investor in Twitter too.

KINDLE DX
Several articles quote Amazon as saying they'll make an international Kindle DX also, but how could they not ?  They say only that it'll be sometime next year. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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US/INT'L Kindle for release Oct 19 '09 Update9

UPDATE 6 - Added "kindlecountries" file of country-specific Kindle information formatted from the Amazon page for easier browsing of where Kindles or Kindle content can be shipped and where wireless access is available for Kindle owners, as of October 6, 2009.

UPDATE 7 & 9 - The experimental web browser and blogs are NOT available in almost all the countries I explored, including the UK, France, and Italy.

  This is said explicitly for most countries, but Japan, Hong Kong, and Mexico do not have the negative wording, so they may well have the web browswer capability.  I didn't check the entire list for that though.

Check the detailed pull-down menu at the Kindle Int'l page for your country.  Book prices are different and there are such things as the VAT or value-added-tax being included in the UK pricing but also purchases in some countries being subject to customs duties, import taxes and other fees levied by the destination country. Those fees will show upon upon checkout.

UPDATE 8 - Clarification of the $2 charge
  "When traveling abroad, you can download books wirelessly from the Kindle Store or your Archived Items. U.S. customers will be charged a fee of $1.99 for international downloads."
  This can be avoided by having the book be downloadable to your computer instead, for transfer to your Kindle via the USB cable.

NOTE that for the UK and other countries:
  "You can transfer personal documents to your Kindle via USB for free at anytime. Service fees for transferring personal documents via Whispernet are currently $.99 per megabyte." (vs the $.15 per megabyte for U.S. customers nearer the servers).

UPDATE 9 - Wireless coverage maps for all Kindles
These are now under "Whispernet Coverage" in the reference section (right-hand column).

---

Main blog entry Oct. 6
I will be updating this blog article as it goes! Our conjecture about the reasons for the weekend glitches was on the money.  It had to do with international sales and the horrors of publisher prohibitions in some areas while making agreements in others.

  Hardcover sales don't know international boundaries that e-books are subjected to by the publishers.  That makes a nightmare for the programmers since people are temporarily in some places where rules are different.

BUT the INTERNATIONAL KINDLE is a reality now.  Pardon the caps.
  And this means "no monthly charges" in those areas too, per the product page ad.

These will be ready October 19 for wireless use in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Cambodia, Japan, Taiwan, Cayman Islands, and other countries that I've not checked yet.  Countries not involved yet include Canada, China and Singapore, alas. Australia gets a special page of its own.  Beyond that, I've not checked for now.  Check the pull-down menu on the product page though.

Here are the following Kindles and pricing as of now, for ordering and, in the case of the new Kindle with International capabilities (3G), pre-ordering.

Kindle 2 - $259,   Kindle US/Int'l - $279, Kindle DX - $489

Also, Australia needs to sell one without a power adapter and relies on the USB cable for power.   Go to AUSTRALIAN Kindle page.

WIRED MAGAZINE info
WIRED magazine's Steven Levy has more salient details and quotes from Jeff Bezos

' As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos explains it in a phone interview with Wired, “The two Kindles are identical, except for the radio.” The new device does not sync with Sprint, which was previously the exclusive supplier for Amazon’s Whispernet technology.  Instead, it works with AT&T’s wireless network, which has the global reach that Amazon needs for its international plans.

...Won’t everybody want to spend 20 bucks more on the AT&T version that that works all around the world, even if a cross-border trip isn’t on the immediate horizon? “I would!” says Bezos. Indeed, having a Kindle that downloads from overseas means you can get your favorite newspapers and magazines delivered instantly, at the same cost you pay at home. '

The Lonely Planet series will be sold on Kindle along with currently available Frommer, Rick Steves and Michelin.

In Europe, the current Kindles that people have will not work with the European AT&T wireless.   This is kind of funny:

' ... Those who bought a Kindle in the last 30 days can exchange them for the international version.  Maybe the biggest gripes will come from those who bought the most expensive Kindle, the supersized DX.  Imagine sitting in a Paris bistro with your US-download-only $490 DX and watching some tourist with a puny $280 Kindle filling up with newspapers, Michelin guides and the latest Michael Connelly thriller.

  The story explains the complexities of copyright and royalties dependent on where an e-book book is sold and mentions that of the 350,000 books in the Kindlestore, only 200,000 will be available in some countries.

  Also, publishers who will not release a Kindle edition along with the release of a hardcover edition are being somewhat shortsighted.  Bezos says, ""When you’re on NPR and someone goes on their Kindle to look for the book, it’s your chance to make that sale... They won’t remember in a month or two.”

KINDLE SALES - STATS - PER WIRED MAG INTERVIEW
While Bezos startled the publishing world by announcing that Kindle sales were 35% of Amazon book sales in cases where Kindle editions were also made available, Wired reports: "Now, he says, the number is up to 48 percent."

  Here's a point Jeff Bezos made, which is important re pricing:

' The international Kindle is not just for Americans traveling abroad.  Bezos says that Amazon’s sales patterns show a sizable demand for English language books in countries that speak other languages.  Until now, readers in those countries have found such books to be expensive and hard to find, not to mention slow to arrive after being ordered.  The global Kindle will make the process cheap and instant.

  In connection with digital tablet rumors, Wired reports:

' He says that Amazon is hard at work making software apps (like the one already available for the iPhone) that will extend the Kindle system to other devices. He’s also still open “in principle” to rival e-reader manufacturers who wish to use the Kindle store to provide content.  But he feels that while people may read on phones and web-surfing tablets, the dedicated e-reading device will keep improving.
  “We want Kindle to be the best way to read,” Bezos says. And now, people can read books that they download outside the US.

See more details at WIRED magazine.

I will be doing more updates with the detail I find for countries that I can summarize.

You can try the pulldown screen for countries of interest to you at the Kindle Int'l page though. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Kindle finally on its way to the UK? Maybe so.

mobiletoday.com ('Mobile') reports that "Amazon is close to finalising a launch date for its ‘Kindle’ electronic book reader in the UK and is in advanced negotiations with a mobile operator for an MVNO [Mobile Virtual Network Operator], Mobile understands."

 Other points Mobile makes (and I'm quoting them due to the importance of wording on a not-finalized deal):

' Amazon is understood to have outsourced all aspects of manufacturing for the Kindle in the UK to Qualcomm, including securing ‘connectivity’ with a mobile operator in the UK.

' The retailer wants customers to be able to download books through PCs or over Wi-Fi, but also to have the option to regularly download newspapers, magazines and journals while on the move, via a mobile network.

'Amazon is understood to be frantically working on having the Kindle ready for launch before Christmas 2009 and has already secured agreements with book publishers.  It is also in the process of negotiating with news and magazine publishers... '

Mobile quotes an Amazon spokesman's response: "We have previously announced that we are looking to release the Kindle with our international customers.  At the moment we have no timeline." Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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