Well, my speculations actually came true and even sooner and on a much larger scale than I have expected: Kindle 2 World version is available for pre-orders and will start shipping on Monday, October 19. Generally, International version of Kindle 2 is identical to the one that was released in February, except that it uses AT&T 3G network for book downloads and Internet connectivity in the US and roaming partner networks in more than 100 countries outside of the USA. I’ve glued together a full coverage map and a a table that lists different features and restrictions that apply to different countries.
Kindle is currently not available in the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chad, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Democratic People’s Republic Of Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Yemen.
Yes, unfortunately Kindle is not available in Canada yet but Amazon promises to fix this as soon as possible. They wouldn’t want to miss such lucrative market after all.
Residents of other 169 countries can buy the international version of Kindle here.
For each country features like whispernet and browser availability vary. In general the picture currently looks like this:
| Country | Wireless | Duty included in checkout price | Typical book price | Browser and blogs | Books under $5.99 | Total books |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aland Islands | No | No | $11.99 | No | 25,000 | 160,000 |
| Albania | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| American Samoa | No | No | $11.99 | No | 45,000 | 180,000 |
| Andorra | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Angola | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Anguilla | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 280,000 |
| Antigua and Barbuda | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Armenia | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Aruba | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Australia | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 280,000 |
| Austria | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Bahamas | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Barbados | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Belarus | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Belgium | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Belize | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Benin | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Bermuda | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Bhutan | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Bolivia | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Botswana | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Brazil | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Bulgaria | Yes! | No | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Burundi | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Cambodia | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Cape Verde | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Cayman Islands | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Central African Republic | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Colombia | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Comoros | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 0 |
| Congo | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Cook Islands | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Costa Rica | No | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Cote d’Ivoire | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Croatia | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 280,000 |
| Cyprus | No | No | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Czech Republic | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Denmark | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Dominica | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Dominican Republic | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Ecuador | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| El Salvador | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| Equatorial Guinea | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Estonia | No | No | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 25,000 | 170,000 |
| Ethiopia | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Falkland Islands | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Faroe Islands | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Federated States of Micronesia | No | No | $11.99 | No | 45,000 | 170,000 |
| Fiji | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 160,000 |
| Finland | No | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| France | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| French Guiana | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| French Polynesia | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Gabon | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Georgia | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Germany | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Ghana | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 160,000 |
| Gibraltar | No | No | $11.99 | No | 25,000 | 170,000 |
| Greece | Yes! | No | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Greenland | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| Grenada | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Guadeloupe | No | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Guam | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 130,000 | 290,000 |
| Guatemala | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| Guernsey | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 160,000 |
| Guinea-Bissau | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Guyana | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Haiti | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| Holy See | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Honduras | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| Hong Kong | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99 | Yes! | 100,000 | 280,000 |
| Hungary | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 65,000 | 280,000 |
| Iceland | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 280,000 |
| India | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 270,000 |
| Ireland | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Italy | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Jamaica | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Japan | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99 | Yes! | 100,000 | 280,000 |
| Jersey | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 160,000 |
| Kenya | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Kiribati | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Lao People’s Democratic Republic | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Latvia | No | No | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 25,000 | 170,000 |
| Lesotho | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Liberia | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Liechtenstein | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Lithuania | No | No | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 25,000 | 170,000 |
| Luxembourg | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Macao | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Macedonia | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Madagascar | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Malawi | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Malta | No | No | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 25,000 | 170,000 |
| Marshall Islands | No | No | $11.99 | No | 45,000 | 170,000 |
| Martinique | No | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Mauritius | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Mayotte | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Mexico | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99 | Yes! | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Moldova | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Monaco | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Mongolia | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Montenegro | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Montserrat | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Mozambique | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Myanmar | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 160,000 |
| Namibia | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 160,000 |
| Nauru | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Nepal | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Netherlands Antilles | No | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Netherlands | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| New Caledonia | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Nicaragua | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| Niue | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Norfolk Island | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Northern Mariana Islands | No | No | $11.99 | No | 45,000 | 180,000 |
| Norway | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 280,000 |
| Palau | No | No | $11.99 | No | 45,000 | 170,000 |
| Panama | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| Papua New Guinea | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Paraguay | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| Peru | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Philippines | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Poland | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Portugal | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Puerto Rico | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 45,000 | 180,000 |
| Reunion | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Romania | Yes! | No | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 25,000 | 170,000 |
| Russia | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 280,000 |
| Rwanda | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Saint Lucia | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Samoa | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| San Marino | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Sao Tome and Principe | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Serbia | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Seychelles | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Slovakia | Yes! | No | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 25,000 | 170,000 |
| Slovenia | Yes! | No | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 25,000 | 170,000 |
| Solomon Islands | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| South Africa | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 160,000 |
| Spain | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Sri Lanka | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Suriname | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| Swaziland | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Sweden | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Switzerland | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 280,000 |
| Taiwan | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 280,000 |
| Tanzania | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Timor-Leste | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Togo | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Tonga | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 290,000 |
| Turks and Caicos Islands | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| Tuvalu | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Uganda | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Ukraine | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| United Kingdom | Yes! | Yes! | $11.99..$13.99 (incl. VAT) | No | 70,000 | 280,000 |
| Uruguay | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| Vanuatu | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Venezuela | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 180,000 |
| Viet Nam | No | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 280,000 |
| Virgin Islands, British | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 100,000 | 280,000 |
| Virgin Islands, U.S. | Yes! | No | $11.99 | No | 45,000 | 180,000 |
| Wallis and Futuna | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 170,000 |
| Zambia | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 160,000 |
| Zimbabwe | No | No | $11.99 | No | 35,000 | 160,000 |
So wireless is available in 100 countries, however browser and blog subscription only work in these 3: Hong Kong, Japan and Mexico.
EU countries have slightly higher typical book price because it includes VAT.
If you read this page on Amazon.com there is little fine-print about international use of Kindle:
Kindle (U.S. & International Wireless) customers from the United States can travel internationally and still get books in less than 60 seconds. Customers have the option to wirelessly download books, periodicals and personal documents via Whispernet for a fee or transfer files from their computer for free.
- International Book Service: Download books from your Kindle’s Archived Items or the Kindle store via Whispernet for $1.99 per book.
- International Subscription Service: Receive all of your newspaper, magazine, and blog subscription content via Whispernet for a weekly fee of $4.99.
- International Current Issue Service: Download individual issues of newspapers and magazines from your Kindle’s Archived Items or the Kindle store via Whispernet for $1.99 per issue.
- International Personal Document Service: Transfer personal documents to your Kindle via Whispernet for $.99 per megabyte (rounded up to the next whole megabyte). For more information about transferring personal files to your Kindle, see the Transferring, Downloading, and Sending Files to Kindle Help page.
It took a lot of effort to put this table together so if you feel it’s a helpful and intereseting piece of information – spread the word and link to this post.
In the future I’ll post updates to the table above on a regular basis.
If you end up buying Kindle 2 from outside of US, please drop me a comment to share your experience.
Very informative post, thank you.
I was about to buy a Sony Reader for my mum who lives in Italy, but I may reconsider now.
I’ve just been searching the Kindle store at amazon.com and my favourite books are either absent or more expensive than the paperback counterparts, so the Kindle would remain an unattractive proposition even if it was free! Thanks for the info, anyway.
MattM, Wow! Can you give specific examples when Kindle book is more expensive than the paperback?
For me personally it’s not a matter of saving money on books (although Kindle saves quite a bit for me), but also about the convenience of getting new books on the go without having to visit book stores, being able to search within books, read several books at the same time, etc.
Darn… no eBook love for New Zealand.
Oh well, it’ll have to be Sony then, especially since a download service for all the versions of PSPs is rolling out soon (to over 50 million users) PSP Graphic Novel eBooks. Regular Novels probably coming next, now that’s a good way to get 50 million people to try your service and then upgrade to a full eBook Reader.
Darn, I can’t believe it’s not available in Canada!
Thank you very much for your comprehensive list and information. I searched everywhere for some good hard news on the upcoming release, and yours was the only site that had it.
Um, no Canada?
No Canada? We are richer than you indebted, socialist Yanks. Fellow Canucks, BUY from CHAPTERS-INDIGO
No GST in Australia?
GST = our 10% VAT
Wireless available in Colombia Yeah! thanks for the table
@Admin
Sorry for my ignorance, but a “yes” under “Duty included in checkout price” means no customs duties, import taxes whatsoever?
You sort of answered this with Jeff-Chicago, but I just wanted to clarify. If I buy the International edition and I am in the US…
1) It will use AT&T instead of Sprint
2) Books will cost the same as US edition
3) My downloads will be free as long as I am in the states
So far an extra $20, do I get the same functionality with just AT&T instead of Sprint?
Thanks.
International coverage available in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, but the Kindle itself isn’t? Boo…
One of the selling points for the first generation Kindle was unlimited free access to wikipedia. Is this still available? Or is this included in the Browse & Blogs category and therefore still only available to the US, Japan, Mexico and Hong Kong.
Kirk McElhearn in comment #comment-2624 said
Note that there’s no VAT on books in the UK. I don’t know, however, if digital books are considered to be “books” =
and Sebastian in Poland made a similar comment.
The EU adopted uniform VAT tax rules on internet sales of e-books, software and electronically delivered items in 2003.
Thus I (in the UK) was charged VAT when I bought Lois Bujold’s Memory from fictionwise.com.
http://store.fictionwise.com/servlet/mw?t=help_taxes&si=37
{but the links are dead}
“How do you know who is an EU citizen?
The country on the credit card billing address is used to make this determination. “
Any reason why the Muslim-majority countries seem to be excluded? I mean, if I can get it in Ghana, why can’t I get it in Morocco? If I can get it in India, Sri Lanka, and even Bhutan, why can’t I get it in Pakistan or Bangladesh?
Thank you so much for this excellent article and table! It’s priceless!
I have owned a US Kindle 2 since it’s release: I’m an American living in France and I purchased it with my US credit card and US billing address. I download content to my computer and transfer them to my Kindle via the USB cable.
I can’t wait for the new International Kindle and I pre-ordered it yesterday. There is no upgrade option for those of us with the US Kindle. I personally am willing to pay for Whispernet.
English-language books cost a fortune here in France and they take a long time to come out. I will be interested to see how the prices compare. But I am wiling to pay for the extra convenience. I can’t wait!
To answer Pierluigi’s question: the duty is included in the price means… it’s included in the price we pay not it’s free.
I purchased the new International Kindle and the Leather Cover for $308.99. An additional $67.47 is added on top of that as “Import fees deposit” and then shipping and handling is added on top of that.
Thanks for this, very interesting but I can’t see how you can say Duty is paid for those in the UK buying a Kindle. I guess you mean VAT, but that’s not the same as duty that could very easily be payable on anything costing over 18 pounds from outside the EU. And on top of the Customs duty you would have to pay the couriers fees as well so that could certainly add to the cost a bit.
I do wonder why they are sending out all orders from the US rather than, at the least, having a European centre. Not like Amazon doesn’t have seperate stores in all of these countries.
And still no news on who would be providing the wireless service in the UK, important as we don’t have AT&T here. Not saying it’s not going to happen or anything, but surely they needed to have worked these things out before announcing their availablity?
Craig T. and Michalis, you are right. You’ve pretty much answered your own questions.
Thanks Derek.
Unfortunately, custom fees are pretty steep. At least for Italy, the total cost (Kindle+shipping+Import fees deposit) is about 380 dollars! O_o
re: admin October 7th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Hi bk – sorry it’s taken so long for me to reply!
I searched Amazon.com for four of my favourite authors: Jeff Noon, Christopher Priest, Philip K Dick and Nick Hornby.
The results were:
Noon, Priest – No Kindle books
Dick – Minor works & short story collections only
Hornby – Major works present but more expensive, e.g. High Fidelity is $13.79 vs $10.20 for a brand new paperback vs $0.50 for a used paperback.
Perhaps I am searching in the wrong way, or reading the wrong books :)
I’m writing from Australia – as an avid reader initially I was very excited that these were becoming available here, but a glance in the Amazon store revealed that if I put my country as Australia there is almost NOTHING worth reading available in e-book format.
All of these e-books are apparently only available inside the US for “Copyright reasons”. What’s the point in me buying a Kindle if I can’t even put half-decent e-books on it. For example, Stephen King is one of the most ubiquitous authors that I know and even HIS books aren’t available in Australia.
Am I reading this correctly? If these restrictions aren’t changed with the launch of the international kindle, I’m predicting a prety abysmal launch.
Awesome table! Many thanks!
Жаль, что Kindle не доступен для Беларуси… Хотя, обратного и ожидать не следовало
Почему не доступен? Доступен – посмотрите внимательно в таблицу. Беспроводный интернет работать не будет, т.к. видимо не договорились на счет роуминга, но само устройство Вам без проблем вышлют и книжки покупать тоже можно будет. Для РБ сейчас доступно около 170,000
I’ve changed the table a little bit so that it’s now sorted by country name rather than country code that caused Germany to go before countries that start with E. This should make it easier to find things there.
It seems that blogs and the experimental web browser are not available for Hong Kong, Japan and Mexico…
Alvin,
How so? Did you already try it?
it states in the kindle 2 international edition seller page that “blogs and the experimental web browser currently are not available in Mexico”, hopefully the information has not been updated. This is what I was waiting for because I’m stuffed with paper books. I am an avid foreign-language learner and I’m planning to subscribe to the New York Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine and Le Monde and of course buy tons of books. I’d like an update for viewing Chinese and Japanese characters in the end. I’ve already pre-ordered mine
Dear Bk,
i have read a very bad comment about the Kindle 2, which really put me down. I was so close to order it but now i really don’t know. Can you please give us some explanation on the below threat?
http://www.amazon.com/review/RV0R3AODMRNJZ/ref=cm_cr_dp_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0015T963C&nodeID=370783011#wasThisHelpful
Wow… That’s an elaborate review! It would take a separate post to answer all these points. I’ll try to do it briefly.
It looks like a lot of pain of this customer is related to the content he owned for his Kindle 1. He didn’t take a care to back up this content properly. How many 3 month old newspapers do you have in your house? If you have some you probably take specific effort to preserve and organize them. He expected that Kindle would do it for him. It didn’t happen.
As for books looks like he purchased a lot of public domain books that he could have gotten for free. Amazon periodically prunes their book marketplace to weed out such books (most of them are duplicates). Of all the books that I’ve purchased every single one is still available. His table of contents trouble is related to the same fact – low quality public digitizations of domain books.
No user replaceable battery? So does iPhone. It’s the price you have to pay for smaller size, less weight and more mobility.
While I realize that the pain he must be feeling is quite real and some of his arguments have a point, in general most of his trouble is caused by the fact that he is a highly non-typical user and uses Kindle in highly non-typical ways. This will happen with any device.
I was wondering if even though they don’t sell the kindle in China whether or not I can still buy books once I’m there. My mother wants to get me one for Christmas since I’m here and don’t want to keep shipping books but I want to make sure that once she ships it here that I can still buy books. There are some dots on the map in my area which is why I ask.
If Kindle is not shipped to your country, you can still buy it from account that is tied to a different country and buy any books that area available to that country anywhere Whispernet roaming is available. So to your question – such Kindle will most likely work in China.
Though I can’t say for sure until somebody confirms it.
I want to buy the kindle and use it in the Philippines. It says in the news here that they are now accepting pre-order. Is this thru Amazon? If i ask someone to buy it for me in the US, how will it work here?
Here’s a thought for international users:
1. Buy the Kindle / Kindle DX in the US. You need to either have a US account or a friend in the US. Advantage 1: Kindle DX available only for US customers and not for international customers. Advantage 2: Price.
2. Workaround for buying e-books available in the US: Buy Amazon.com gift cards. you can do this regularly with your international credit card. Use the gift cards to buy e-books that you normally may not be available to access/purchase internationally. Advantage: Access to the thousands of titles available only in the US.
3. Transfer to your Kindle through USB. Disadvantage: No daily access to your papers, etc via wireless subscription.
Now, I know this may not be feasible for many users (or even legit – I haven’t bought myself a Kindle yet). To my mind, Part 1 can be ignored – so you buy the international version and still use the gift coupons to buy e-books. The intent is – content is what makes the Kindle appealing to me. In terms of hardware, I believe the Sony product is far better. But no one can beat the titles that Amazon has…
My two cents worth…
There is WAY too much contradiction going on here. This site leads you to believe you can download content WIRE-LESS-LY outside the U.S. I can attest that in Taiwan this is not true. Turn on the device, see 5 bars, and … nothing. Nothing will come down, up, sideways… nothing. You will need to use USB.
Now, this page says Taiwan “Yes! and Yes!” but that is not true as you have to use USB. So, besides shipping, where is the “International” part?
What exactly whispernet is?
Is it an AT&T net?
How to get roaming agreements with Whispernet?
Hey everyone,
I’m right now looking into buying an ebook reader for a trip I’m taking to Europe in March of next year. I was originally planning on getting the B&N Nook, but the Kindle’s international wireless makes it much more appealing. I’m traveling to Germany and the Netherlands, and was wondering if I could still receive Wikipedia? It mentions that “Browsers and Blogs” aren’t available in neither. Thanks!
Wikipedia still works
I’ve had my Kindle 2 for a few weeks now and think is a rip off.
There’s no justification for charging UK users 120% more than US readers for the Daily Mail and then rubbing salt into the wounds by not including any pictures in the version that is delivered to the UK.
Pretty much every magazine in the Kindle store is 100% more for UK users than it is for US users.
If you’re in the middle of nowhere then I can see the merits, but if you live in a town or city you might as well just buy the print version of the publication you want as it will cost less than getting it wirelessly.
Shame on you Amazon for ripping of the whole world is all I can say!
as near as i can tell (in part from how blogkindle.com shows up on my kindle) amazon does not control the format and if pictures are included or not. that seems to be up to the publisher based on what they put into their feed to amazon (an RSS feed I believe)
I don’t know who controls the price (and how much of the price goes to the publisher vs going to amazon, any comments from the site admin here ;-), but part of the reason for subscription services being more expensive in the UK than in the US could be the cost of bandwidth.
there are advantages to the online subscription, you have the last three days on hand, and you don’t have to go anywhere to get the current issue.
but I definantly agree that online delivery of periodic publications and websites is pricy, and I wouldn’t buy a digital reader just for them, but nobody is forcing you to use those options.
Just ordered an international kindle 2 from Switzerland. Total price incl. leather cover was OK: $289 for Kindle + cover, and $27 shipping, $25 duties/import. Has it become cheaper or are duties for the EU higher? I can hardly imagine, usually it is quite costly to import goods here.
Let’s see, I wouldn’t be surprised if I have to pay extra on receipt for duties handling or something like that.
Does anyone know when picture content in magazines and newspapers will be available in the UK on kindle 2 and if the US feature such as web browsing will ever be available?
Why the Kindle is not available in Argentina?
I can confirm that Kindle’s Whispernet does indeed work in China, at least in Beijing. Able to use the brower to access most anything I might need it for….Wikipedia, recipes, google, Amazon, etc.
Just a warning, even though it has been mentioned a few times before, to check out the customs duty in your country for the kindle. I live in Greece and have been given the choice by the courier to either a) pay 80 euro and go to the airport in person to try to endure the red tape or b) pay 150 euro for the courier to bring it to my door. Which all adds up when you slap that on top of amazon’s asking price.
To put it more succinctly, add up the total cost before buying. Why can’t this thing be produced in Europe?
Just got a Kindle as a gift in Hong Kong, but will be moving to Singapore. Why does Kindle not work in Singapore? I also don’t see the Republic of Korea on the list. Seems like a few major Asian markets have been left off and would love to know why.
i wand use sri lanka can Global Wireless Coverage
Can i buy a cheap kindle in Thailand where i live?
Hi. I bought a Kindle 3.3 from New Zealand before moving to Saudi Arabia. I am very ignorant about how to use it. Is it possible to use this version from Saudi Arabia?
Thanks, Julia.
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