Amazon Kindle International
The New Amazon Kindle International Ebook Reader
is now available for only $259 and has wireless capabilities not only in U.S., but also worldwide.
The international crowd has been waiting for this version for quite some time and will probably sell out quick, especially since the customer base is worldwide and not just U.S.. What does U.S. and International mean for this version of Amazon's wireless reading device? Well it means that the 3G wireless technology or EDGE/GPRS coverage (depending on country) to download books, newspapers, magazines, etc. will be available not only in the U.S. but also in 169 countries. Kindle International access now worldwide.
Which countries have 3G wireless coverage? Well looks like most of Europe including Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Japan, New Zealand, parts of Iceland, China and South Africa to name a few. What about the EDGE/GPRS coverage? Poland, Ukraine, Russia, parts of the Middle East, India, Thailand, scattered coverage throughout South America including Brazil, Argentina and Chile, Central America, Australia, Cuba, Jamaica and Mexico. Amazon has links to a map here: Kindle nternational Map Coverage
Kindle International Use not available in parts of these countries:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chad, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Democratic People’s Republic Of Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Yemen. (Check the current Amazon map link above for updates).
There are some sellers on eBay selling the new Kindle International now, but they are overpriced. My advice to to pre-order at Amazon. You won't get charged until your Kindle ships and shipping is free (US) and you can always trust Amazon.
Amazon has finally released their Kindle International version so you can travel and download books, magazines, newspapers and more in over 100 countries around the world. Users will either be covered by 3G wireless or EDGE (Enhanced Data rate for Global Evolution) /GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) coverage.
This is great for those of us who spend a lot of time abroad either for business or pleasure travel. Prior to this, if you wanted to download books into your Kindle you had to first download them to a computer and then transfer them to your Kindle.
One important note is that if you are a U.S. customer traveling abroad, there will be fees for certain downloading features. For example, you will be charged a $1.99 fee for downloading books or single issues of periodicals wirelessly from your archived items or the Kindle store while traveling internationally. There are also additional fees for newspaper, magazine and blog subscription services from $1.99 to $4.99.
Another drawback is that Kindle International does not have browser and blog subscription availability to all countries in the wireless network. As of now, the only countries that have this capability are Japan, Mexico and Hong Kong. A large portion of Canada does not have download capabilities, however Amazon is working to extend coverage soon.
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