Comments on: Amazon Kindle Available to International Customers

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:24:37 +0000

@Kat That's a very interesting question. US Kindle users have access to over 350,000 titles. That means you and I have between 60,000 and 70,000 fewer titles to choose from. I'd like to know which books those are. Given the furore over geographical restrictions at Fictionwise and other etailers, I'd imagine the restricted Kindle books will also be new releases. In other words, the very books we'd be interested in purchasing.

By: Kat

Kat — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:58:11 +0000

Sarah, I still don’t even understand WHY Australia has geographic restrictions. Our parallel import laws clearly allow for one-off customer orders for imported books. I would think Kindle purchases would fall into that loophole.

Of the numbers you quoted, I wonder how many are books out of copyright…

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:18:29 +0000

@Jill D. I managed to find the Kindle editions section but it is very vague on which countries can buy which books due to geographical restrictions. In other words, I can see if a book is available as a Kindle edition to international customers, but I can't see which international customers exactly. Each country has its own quoted number of books which will be available to them. Switzerland has quite a few at 290,000. Australia has 10,000 less than us at 280,000. No clue why that is. Bulgarians can only buy 170,000 books. Now if we only knew which of those books were available to each country...

By: Jill D.

Jill D. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:26:07 +0000

Sarah – I live in the States and at our Amazon store when you click on a book there is a little caption underneath the picture that states “click here if you would like to start reading on your Kindle in under a minute” Something to that effect anyway. Maybe the international Amazon store will have this same option. That way you can search for books you would like to buy and see if they are available in kindle format.

By: Amazon Kindle will ship to Australia from October 19 - Book Thingo

Amazon Kindle will ship to Australia from October 19 - Book Thingo — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:57:26 +0000

[...] Amazon Kindle Available to International Customers (MonkeyBear Reviews) — Not Australia-specific, but raises salient points about being an international Kindle user SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Amazon Kindle will ship to Australia from October 19", url: "http://bookthingo.com.au/amazon-kindle-will-ship-to-australia-from-october-19/" }); « PREVIOUS: Books Alive Challenge 2009 – Decadence’s list More at Book Thingo:Parallel importation of books to Australia (Part 1)Parallel importation of books to Australia (Part 2) $10 OFF AT FISHPOND [...]

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:28:45 +0000

I’m welcoming the news, but not probably not for the reasons that most people think:

1. I’m hoping it will stimulate the Australian ebook market. It’s dismal, but I think the volume of sales that Amazon will bring—just from hype alone—might give retailers and publishers a kick up the proverbial.

2. I’m hoping it’ll encourage publishers to release local titles as ebooks.

But, like you, I have loads more questions:
- What will it mean for parallel import restrictions?
- Will Amazon be required to pay GST? (If not, why not? That would be an unfair advantage over local bookshops.)
- Will Amazon be subject to Australian fair trading laws if it doesn’t actually have a local subsidiary?
- Should I wait for Apple to release a tablet? Oh, wait…

I should add that much as I love the THOUGHT of owning an ebook reader, I’m not buying one just yet for most of the reasons outlined in the post you linked to.