Published on
November 17, 2009 in
Devices.
In the “better late than never” category, Amazon.com has announced that the company’s popular Kindle 2 e-reader is now shipping to Canada. As per usual, the device will be somewhat disabled when compared with its American cousin: the device’s web browser and blog service will not function. The device with cost $259 US, and will be shipped from the US – which means that Canadians will experience the joy of paying approximately $31 dollars in import fees in addition to the cost of the device.
It’s interesting to see how Amazon.com has rolled out the Kindle internationally in its bid to maintain a lead on Sony and other device manufacturers. Shipping from the US, disabling web functionality, and even shipping international devices with US-only power plugs are all evidence of the obvious urgency of Amazon.com’s international expansion. Despite coming from behind Sony to grab a hefty lead in market share, perhaps Amazon.com senses that the market is moving much faster than it originally expected?
It’s been a bit of up-and-down for the Kindle this week.
On the positive side, Amazon.com released Kindle for PC, a Windows-only application that allows you to consume books you’ve already purchased on your laptop. This has been a long time coming, especially given that competitors like Sony have had a desktop application available for quite some time. Now, if they would only release a Mac version…regardless, this move provides one more piece of the puzzle, potentially enabling third-party readers built on commodity netbook or tablet-based hardware to get into the e-reader business. Conspiracy theorists get extra bonus spy points for thinking that the new application hints at a forthcoming color device.
On the negative side, Syracuse University condemned the Kindle, citing inaccessibility to the blind as a reason for not using the device as a replacement for textbooks. This is yet another setback for Amazon.com’s efforts to entrench the Kindle in universities as an alternative to traditional textbooks – students at Princeton had previously expressed contempt for the Kindle DX and its lack of capabilities. Until Amazon addresses the concerns, it appears blind student will either have to stick with Braille textbooks, or spring for the new Intel Reader device (international students with only modest vision impairment might be able to make do with the rumoured screen contrast improvements).