UK Kindle owners will be charged 40% more for eBooks

SNAFU

Shows lack of preparation on Amazon's part. The bottom line is ALL that matters to them, not the customer experience!

By BornOnTheCusp on 9 Oct 2009

Sorry but this whole thing reeks of fail, like no other product at the moment.
- not available here for months
- device too expensive
- have to buy device from US and pay own import duty
- have to buy ebooks from from US
- ebooks cost more than they should
- no carrier sorted
- books can be pulled at Amazon's discretion (if they did it once, they can do it again).

Thanks but no thanks, my iPhone will do fine thanks.

By mviracca on 9 Oct 2009

What sort of fools

Do they think we are!

By mikepgood on 9 Oct 2009

mviracca: I agree with a lot of this but ending on the note about the iPhone only tells us you've got an expensive gadget and that you, personally, don't need a Kindle. That's a little bit pretentious - I don't seek out forums to tell people what I've bought and also marks you as an unusual case since not everyone has an iPhone.

Notably an iPhone costs more money than a Kindle over its life. They're both a lot of money but the monthly bills inflate the iPhone a -lot- so really, save yourself some money and just have one.

By steviesteveo on 10 Oct 2009

Typical Example of greedy, idiots not understanding technology

This is the same BS we're going through with the music industry.
They want to give you some data, a non physical object, and charge you as much for it, if not more, than you pay for the physical original item which had production costs involved with it, shipping, storing, retail, etc.

They save all that money yet they still want to charge us, the end user, the same amount so that their profits go through the roof instead of passing on the savings to us, at least somewhat.

This is absolutely STUPID money for an ebook which they still then can control and you never fully own.

I hope they go bankrupt and rot in greedy hell for their stupidity :)

By nilathomas on 10 Oct 2009

A US company overcharging in the UK?

This is me - looking astonished!...
Wow! That has never happend before...
You've heard of over-quoting for a job, so your company won't get the contract because you really can't be arsed? So, you quote WAY too much and when nobody bites, you say "we tried, but nobody wanted the product, ah well!"
Sounds about right here? Thanks for nothing Amazon.

By cheysuli on 10 Oct 2009

Jeez, never happy unless they're complaining some folks! Not to defend Amazon, but they were heavily criticised for making the original Kindle US-only, and now they (finally) make an 'international' edition everyone and their brother's lining up to have a pop about book prices, selection, roaming charges etc...

Has nobody made the connection that UK book prices are also generally higher than US book prices? List prices are set by the publishers; last time I looked Amazon weren't the publishers!

But yes, that aside, this has all the hallmarks of an poorly considered rush to market an 'international' edition with little thought about the details that a lot of people will use as an excuse not to buy. Shame.

By petermillard1 on 10 Oct 2009

@petermillard1

I live in the UK and order physical books from US amazon and pay the same price as a US customer. Why should it be different for a digital book, the costs to Amazon are the same.

I will stick to physical books as they are still cheaper than digitally. Plus I don't need to buy the reader.

By Ulfarus on 10 Oct 2009

@Ulfarus

Physical books don't attract VAT, but bizarrely eBooks do, so that accounts for a chunk of the extra. But sure, if cost rather than convenience is the issue then nobody's putting a gun to your head saying you must buy ebooks ;)

By petermillard1 on 10 Oct 2009

kashiq

I think that ebooks will be famous for new generation only. Because the real book readers are addictive to page changings. If the come up with new ebook where you can change pages like real book then that can be famous. The best upcoming ebook i think is this one http://www.domesticutilities.com/book.htm
In this century ebooks will bring many new poets and articles writers and the famous poets and writers names will disappear

By mzm4u on 11 Oct 2009

Why does it need another ISP?

What a strange product - I already HAVE an internet connection that WORKS and which I PAY for, why would they think I would want to PAY AGAIN for essentially ANOTHER data connection just to use their product?



"The extra charges seemingly result from Amazon's failure to strike a deal with a UK mobile network to handle the data downloads. The international versions of the Kindle will ship with a SIM card from US network AT&T, which has roaming deals with four of the UK networks. The extra costs associated with roaming data have likely led to the increased eBook fees."

By edrandall on 11 Oct 2009

Why does it need another ISP?

What a strange product - I already HAVE an internet connection that WORKS and which I PAY for, why would they think I would want to PAY AGAIN for essentially ANOTHER data connection just to use their product?



"The extra charges seemingly result from Amazon's failure to strike a deal with a UK mobile network to handle the data downloads. The international versions of the Kindle will ship with a SIM card from US network AT&T, which has roaming deals with four of the UK networks. The extra costs associated with roaming data have likely led to the increased eBook fees."

By edrandall on 11 Oct 2009

Stupid price point

When major retailers in the UK are knocking out new paperbacks for £4 why would I pay $13 for an electronic copy?

How can a virtual software copy be more expensive than an actual physical item...!

Stupid pricing for numpties

By MikeHellier on 11 Oct 2009

Quite illegal but.....

Just download the book you want from a torrent. That's the only thing the likes of Amazon will listen to, lost profit.

By Lacrobat on 12 Oct 2009

@steviesteveo

Bit harsh. I have an iPhone but really would like to have an eBook but I have to say after seeing the mess that Amazon is getting in, the iPhone looks a better option. It's not extra money for him because he already has the phone for other purposes.
I'd prefer something bigger than the iPhone but there's little choice at the moment.

By TimoGunt on 12 Oct 2009

@steviesteveo

Bit harsh. I have an iPhone but really would like to have an eBook but I have to say after seeing the mess that Amazon is getting in, the iPhone looks a better option. It's not extra money for him because he already has the phone for other purposes.
I'd prefer something bigger than the iPhone but there's little choice at the moment.

By TimoGunt on 12 Oct 2009

So much for globalizatin

All I can say is that this proves once and for all that globalization is a complete and utter sham. We're not seeing an even global market, we're seeing US companies artificially inflating the price of their products in overseas markets in which their powerful position grants them a near total monopoly.

The UK government needs to wake up to this and the UK regulators need to grow a pair. They should tell Amazon that either UK consumers get a comparable product for a comparable price, or the Kindle gets slapped down by the regulators.

I've got family in the UK and they have to pay extortionate prices for software and media products from US companies. Remember iTunes tracks for a 99c or British 99p at a time when it was almost two dollars to the pound? Or the DVDs that cost almost $30 and came out in the UK 6 months after they came out in the US. And it's even worse with software. usually between 25 and 50% markup.

No wonder there is so much piracy in the UK, they are getting ripped off left right and center.

By Perfectblue97 on 13 Oct 2009