Amazon Kindle UK import orders begin

Comments

• Should get mine in a couple of days.
  
  48% sounds high. I wonder if even half of those respondents actually buy an international Kindle. I would be pleasantly surprised if it was anywhere close to 48%. Over the next year, there is going to be a dramatic change in this space with Google, Sony, Murdoch, B&N, PixelQi, Apple and many others mixing it up. Early adopters are likely to be prolific readers (often 40 and 50 plus), frequent travelers and those in the publishing business trying to get a handle on the coming revolution. When an inexpensive device hits the stands that is designed to cope with the demands of textbooks, magazines, newspapers and the social aspects of reading while making it easy and affordable to buy books over the air, there will be a mass-market for eBooks that will change the publishing world for good. All the pieces are there and this will happen fast - starting proper, in 2010. Posted by Paul Story, UK
• Ideally I would buy one now but realistically wait for 1 year or maybe two to see what the price levels out at. Posted by mike, UK
• I'll stick with the Sony - sooo much sleeker! Posted by Sue, UK
• I've been involved with eBooks since 1999. I've still to see the hardware that met my earlier vision of a single device for reading books, making phone calls. If I believer the press, this device falls short of my vision at that time, let lone being able to review emails, check facebook and all the other things we now should deman.. In addition, it looks as though Amazon will use the digital rights software or download location to ensure that British based readers pay a premium for the privelege of reading books after they pay extra for the power source. My vision was that anyone can download a book from anywhere in the world, paying the same amount, since one of the reasons for carrying eBooks was to ensure that you could read books in your own language when you were far from home.
  Amazon, can you possible review your global customer approach rather than the very obviously North American focus and ensure that we are treated fairly for something where there is absolutely no difference in the supply channel that would justify the extra charges.
  
  Posted by Internet Book Company, United Kingdom
• No, I have considered this long and hard ever since I heard of the e-ink technology. Amazons kindle is clearly a flawed gem in the UK - no web , no wikipedia - no sale. These were the killer features that made a 3G connected reader so appealing. Wireless downloading of overpriced books was not a seller for me at all. You can buy a Sony 505 for around £150 (~$200) or the new pocket reader for slightly more (which has the best contrast and clarity I have yet to see in a reader). Sony offers an open reader wich accepts PDFs natively and Epub plus other formats. Truth is I have decided against e-readers for the while. They are all too expensive to justify, I could buy 30 books for the price of a single e-reader. If amazon offered free e-books for every hardcopy I have already bought from them, then it would be a different matter - but they won't. So I will wait for this technology to drop considerably in price or integrate more functionality. Posted by Chris, UK
• The e-books are too expensive, simple as that. This is why people steal MP3s rather than pay 0.79p for them. The premise is the same - we are not simple, the material cost of the e-book is zero and yet they are more often than not more expensive than than the actual book - this does not add up and therefore people won't buy. Add to that the fact that an actual book can be passed round many people to read or be sold on. None of these are possible with the tiny piece of data that Amazon are commanding $13.99 etc. for. Posted by Tim H, UK