We already knew Amazon would be making the Kindle e-book reader available at a premium in the UK later this month, but we had no notion it would come with a surcharge on the books as well.
According to a report in The Guardian, Amazon will be charging UK Kindle owners $13.99 (£8.75) to download each book. That compares unfavourably with the US cost of $9.99 (£6.25).
'Import deposit' too
In other words, early adopters in the UK will have to pay 40 per cent more than American residents who download the same book. The levy comes on top of the $45 (£28) 'import deposit' Amazon is charging for the Kindle itself.
While there's no official explanation for the price discrepancy, it's likely that international roaming charges on AT&T's US network are at least part of the reason users across the Atlantic will be paying more.
High data charges
Because Amazon has no wireless partners for Kindle downloads outside the US, any hardware shipped to the UK will come with an American SIM card, resulting in high roaming charges on each purchase delivered wirelessly.
Your comments (4) Click to add a new comment
andrys
October 12th
4. watcherzero,
The radio modem is inside (built into) the Kindle, and AT&T is using partner wireless companies in the UK, not in the U.S.
The referenced article was not accurate.
- Andrys
kindleworld.blogspot.com
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andrys
October 12th
3. The article in the Guardian was simplified to the absolutely-worse scenarios and short on facts. In other words, Amazon is not charging 40% more to people in the UK.
To get more info, see
http://bit.ly/kipricing
- Andrys
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watcherzero
October 12th
2. So wait you import this device and you have to use a US SIM card to connect to a US mobile network to download onto it? bad planning utterley.
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phoenix
October 11th
1. pathetic!
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