Amazon Kindle now available internationally
October 7th, 2009 | Published in Books, Technology
Amazon announced today that their e-reader type device, the Kindle, is available in the UK. There’s been a lot of fuss about it over in the US, and for some it’s become a much loved gadget. It can hold up to 1,500 books, and download new material over a free mobile connection.
Well, it’s kind of available in the UK. At the moment you have to buy it from Amazon.com, who will ship it to you in the UK. When you add on taxes and import duty, you’ll end up paying around £200 for it. There’s also no Kindle material store on Amazon.co.uk at the moment, so you’ll have to buy your ebooks from Amazon.com.
It ships to the UK with a US plug and a USB cable for charging, and the experimental web browser and blog reader won’t apparently work in the UK either.
All in all, it seems like a bit of a very weird shopping experience for Kindle users in the UK. Not something you’d expect from Amazon. I love reading books, but don’t quite see the point in splashing out so much money on what is basically an electronic replacement for books. It’s kind of too specific. I think I’ll wait and see if Apple brings out their tablet next year as are the rumours – hopefully it’ll be more of a netbook than just a book reader.
