For quite some time now there has been a good deal of conjecture as to when, precisely, Amazon might launch its Kindle reader in the world marketplace. The original Kindle debuted in November 2007 with the Kindle 2 and the large screen Kindle DX going on sale in February and June of 2009 respectively.
A year and a half and 2 hardware revisions later there seems to be no sign of an imminent global launch coming up. US sales of the reader are strong – demand frequently outstrips supply and the device is out of stock quite often. Kindle book sales are also excellent (making up 35% of total sales when there is a Kindle edition on offer alongside the conventional printed versions) and the market for Kindle accessories is growing daily.
However, as impressive as current sales figures are, it seems improbable that a company like Amazon would be content with dominating the North American market whilst ignoring the possibilities available in the global arena. The fact that the Kindle’s arch rival, (for the moment at least) the Sony PRS reader, is available worldwide and is capitalising upon the opportunity to establish brand loyalty in countries where the Kindle is unavailable must be a matter of some concern for Amazon.
Part of the problem would appear to be the type of connection to the Amazon store. In the US, Amazon furnish a fee free 3G download service – dubbed “Whispernet” and provided by Sprint. It’s an attractive option for customers who perceive themselves to be less committed – albeit the cost of this service is reflected in the initial price of the hardware, the reader itself.
Recent discussions between Amazon and European telecoms service providers – T-Mobile and Vodafone – came to a halt with Amazon suggesting that the service provider’s demands were “unreasonable”.
Considering that Sony have recently partnered with Google to make the search engine giant’s huge collection of public domain electronic books available free of charge to Sony PRS customers, and also bearing in mind that Apple will be launching a tablet based notebook (perfect for reading ebooks) – it does seem reasonable to ask how much longer Amazon can afford to drag its feet before entering the global arena with its Kindle ebook reader.
Conversely, it’s probably worth remembering that the Kindle was a pretty late edition to the ebook reader marketplace – the devices have been around since 1999 in a variety of formats. It doesn’t appear to have done Amazon any lasting thus far and they may feel that the time will be right when they say so and not before.
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