Amazon’s Kindle Hits the Philippines
Now here’s a news graphic that made me sit up, take notice, grab my mobile, take a photo, and upload it to Twitpic. While waiting my turn at a waiting room, I was thumbing through today’s issue of the Asian Wall Street Journal and this photo of a bug-eyed Jeff Bezos of Amazon grabbed me.
The item talked about the availability of the so-called “International Kindle” in Asia, and listed a number of countries in the region.
Big surprise: The Philippines is listed. Along with other dubious “hotbeds of tech” like Bhutan, Laos, Mongolia, and Myanmar.
Not on the list are our ASEAN neighbors : Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. And while Australia makes the list, New Zealand is excluded.
Heck, in North America, Canadians won’t be able to order one.
I’m not going to scratch my head too long and worry about about Amazon’s criteria as long as I know that since I live in one of the lucky “preferred countries” and if I really wanted one to curl up with a Kindle at the nearest Starbucks, I am now legally allowed to order it, have it shipped to my digs, and use it to download books wirelessly.
There are some questions about how Amazon’s Whispernet wireless service is going to work in the Philippines. As near as I can figure out while nosing around Amazon’s vague wireless terms of service, AT&T is their main GSM/HSDPA operator partner for this. So if you’re in the Philippines, you are going to get your 3G or 3.5G signal from an AT&T roaming partner.
I asked around if this was going to be SMART or Globe, and the answer appears to be that both are partners, so what operator you latch on to will depend on the Kindle’s druthers – unless there is a way to manually select a network.
The International Kindle goes on sale on October 19 for $279.
By the way, is it just me or does “Whispernet” sound like a lady thing?
Heh, Jim, a personal pet topic of mine.
Been snooping around the forums at MobileRead for feedback on the international Kindle since the announcement.
Downsides to the international version: books are generally $2 more expensive than the US store ($11.99 versus $9.99) and, due to publisher restrictions, there are over 100,000 books that won’t be available outside the US store (including, supposedly, Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol”)
However, tons of people have been using US Kindles outside America for quite some time now – it’s all in the judicious use of Amazon electronic GCs and a VPN to “magically relocate” you for a few minutes, plus a USB connection to do all your transfers.
And hey, bang for the back tip – if you aren’t going to need the international Whispernet anyway, refurbished 1st gen Kindle readers are only $150 on Amazon right now.
In fact for me, the best part about the Amazon Kindle store is the content, not necessarily the device.
If you’re an iPhone user that can snag a copy of the Kindle app off the US iTunes store, you don’t even need an actual Kindle – and now you can seamlessly use Whispernet not only over 3G, but WiFi as well. Not to mention the ability to read non-DRM ebooks (using Stanza), get many more blogs, news and feature articles synced to your device (using Instapaper) and view full resolution, full color PDFs (using GoodReader).
coolness jim! i’ve had the kindle for iphone app for a few months now but just to read reviews; and clamored for the day we could buy the kbooks here. 10.19 is marked on my calendar – where do we line up to buy?
btw, it’s not just you. i’ve often been sent to the ministop to pick up some whispernet – the model with wings and for heavy flows. is that like broadband??
this is awesome news!
*drooling already* thanks for the update, jim!
Having tried a DX, the 6″ International version is not so bad at all. I’ll probably get one before the year ends. Its more portable than the DX. I’ve been using the iPhone app for months and fairly satisfied with it, but the E Ink screen is definitely more friendly to the eyes.
Yup International books costs $2 more but its still cheaper compared to a print book you get locally (I recently bought one for $8 when it sells for $15 for print locally), although there are some from the best-sellers list not included (yet).