If you’ve visited the home page of Amazon.com anytime in the past several months, it’s hard not to notice its big house ad for the Kindle (and now the Kindle 2). And I don’t blame them. Amazon is an amazing company that could probably sell just about anything. (As a writer, I am grateful they started out with books.) With the Kindle, not only does Amazon have the opportunity to sell something of its own creation, which means bigger profit margins; but it also pushes customers to keep coming back for more — books in electronic form — from which Amazon again can take a cut.
If you admire business models like the computer-printer model (cheap printer reliant on expensive cartridge refills) or the cartridge razor (cheap or even free razors reliant on expensive cartridge refills), you’ve got to like the Kindle. It costs $359 upfront, with limitless refills. And, although Amazon is famously quiet about releasing sales figures, the consensus is that the Kindle has been a big success, at least as far as electronic readers go.
So I was surprised to see that the Kindle isn’t available on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.ca. Wouldn’t British and Canadian readers be as eager for the Kindle as Americans?
On a per capita basis, our book has sold better in the U.K. than in the U.S., which is pretty remarkable considering that it’s an American book and that we’ve had far, far less media exposure in the U.K. than in the U.S. This one tiny data point is an indication of the larger truth that there are more readers per capita in general in the U.K. than here; and they like their electronic gadgets, too.
We contacted Amazon to ask why the Kindle hasn’t been exported, but haven’t heard anything back yet. In the meantime, I found the following explanation on Askville.com, which is an Amazon company:
Sorry, no, the Kindle is only sold in the US, and is only able to be used, as far as downloading new reading material, in the U.S. It’s is [sic] based on wireless telephone technology and the signals aren’t transmitted outside the U.S. You can use/read the Kindle anywhere in the world, of course, but getting new material and the initial purchase would not be possible.
That may be an explanation but, from a business standpoint, perhaps not a compelling reason. So, paging all our British and Canadian readers: how keen would you be to buy the Kindle if it were offered?
and 
. You can also watch it on 
I would buy one at the drop of a hat. The idea of being able to always have books/magazines with me without carrying around the “dead-tree” version is very appealing.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some rights issue with publishers about selling the Kindle E-Books outside of the US. While amazon probably makes money off of the actual device, they might not want to sell it in a market where they can’t also sell the books at the same time.
I’m a Canadian who’s wanted a Kindle since day 1. I find it extremely annoying and frustrating that they aren’t made available here. Not much else to say about it, really, except that I’m impatient for e-reader technology/culture to catch up to digital music in terms of ubiquity and ease of use.
You are referring to Freebie Marketing also known as the razor and blades business model. At the top of your post, you bring up a fantastic point about private-label products: not only do they generate instant-impact higher margins (in house production AND retailing), but they also have a long term brand-loyalty generating factor, which in turn generates loyalty to the company. Amazon, being an almost exclusively retail company, understands this well and I’m sure will be able to structure private-label business models well, including the Kindle.
In regards to why it is not sold internationally, I’m sure it has something to do with international laws being different for electronic transmissions for intellectual property. One can see an example of this on iTunes; UK iTunes Music Store has a different library of songs than the US Music Store. Assuming that it is all stored in the same place (an Apple-owned server, for example), it seems odd that US customers cannot buy UK songs. Likely it has something to do with distribution rights as well as publishing rights. I imagine the same issue crops up for digital books as well.
As a Cdn reader, I would love to get a copy, but I can’t fault Amazon for the problem. It isn’t a business model problem, at least not one of their creation. A Kindle hits the business world in a double-edged sweet-spot — half computer technology, and half-wireless.
Wireless companies in the U.S. are not licensed to operate in Canada, and vica versa. They have affiliation agreements, share roaming networks, etc., but are distinct entities — something the Cdn govt enforces to ensure we are not subsumed by foreign companies. Most govts do the same, we just happen to be the one where it stands out as our domestic industry is generally less robust than our American cousins.
For the content, it’s a giant landmine. Under “Canadian content” rules of the telecommunications regulators, we cannot simply get an American satellite for instance — we have to get Cdn ones. Lots of cross-border shoppers do it illegally anyway, but not easily (need an American p.o. box, etc.). I can’t watch videos from NBC.COM or ABC.COM or even AMAZON.COM…that would be the same as broadcasting into Canada without a license, and the regulators say “No! we have to protect our Canadian culture”.
Apparently that culture is generally one that requires protectionist measures, inferior Cdn actors and small-scale budgets, and blocking of more competitive prodcuts.
The Kindle has wireless tied to a single U.S. network — I’m not convinced it wouldn’t work in Canada, I think you would just end up “roaming” (unlike EU networks, Cdn networks are the same technology — all cellphones work in both Cdn and US markets for example, without modification usually). And it has content that is downloadable, which would send the CRTC (the regulator) into conniptions.
I’m sure Amazon would like to crack our market, but it means a separate business started within the Amazon Canada centre, separate agreements on cellphones (our networks are usually more expensive with less competition).
Definitely doable, but a lot of red tape in the way. Some people are buying them in the U.S. anwyay and downloading via their PC rather than wirelessly…
PW
As a Canadian (NL), I’m very keen on getting a reader (not necessarily a Kindle), but not until the price point comes down substantially. With increased competition (eg. Sony) I hope to see decent readers drop below $150 (CAD) within a year or two.
As a New Zealand reader I would be keen, but Amazon needs to sort their pricing out. I can buy a real book and once I have finished gift it or swap it with a friend. The DRM on these ebooks stops this practice and reduces their value for me, I would be prepared to pay a fair bit for a kindle library subscription, but it would need to be comprehensive; like a library eh? E-books need to be much cheaper, as just like DRM music right now you are paying a premium for a product that’s much cheaper for providers to supply.
I’m a Canadian, and I recently bought the Sony reader. I would be hesitant to buy the Kindle if I couldn’t put .pdf files onto it myself like I can with the Sony. I need to read a lot of research papers and putting them onto the Sony Reader saves me a lot of printing.