We did finally get the iPhone thanks to Rogers but that was only after being forced to watch our American neighbors flash their fancy phones in front of our faces for what seemed like years. I don't own a iPhone and I chalk that up to bitterness. In fact I'm probably going to get the Blackberry Storm instead and think as Rob would say "Steve Jobs can suck my ass".
The newest villain to torment us Canadians is Amazon and their cursed Kindle.
I'm an avid reader and so is my lovely and loving wife so our house is filled and I mean filled with books so the introduction of a good eBook Reader interested me a lot. I was even willing to shell out the money the moment I heard about the Kindle even though it's over priced. However, Amazon said nooooo you can't have the Kindle and then later said noooo you can't have the Kindle 2, your Canadian, then they stuck up their noses and walked away.I can't even get an American friend to send me one becuase it turns out that you not only have to have an American address and credit card to buy a Kindle you also need that to buy the eBooks for the Kindle.
Now I understand the Canadian cell phone network thing could cause a glitch but I don't buy the copy right thing for a 2nd. Sony can sell us books for their reader and Amazon.ca seems to have no problem selling us books. Now I think Amazon could have said sure you can buy the Kindle but sorry the whispernet feature won't work in Canada. However, we'll sell you the books on Amazon.ca and you can download them to your Kindle via a computers USB port. However Amazon didn't do this and pretty much flipped us in Canada the bird not even commiting to trying to get us Kindle in the near future. I'm almost as pissed off about this as I am about Coke advertising their pop in glass bottles. Therefore, I'm not going to buy their stupid Kindle even if it comes to Canada and am looking at the alternatives.
Alternative 1: The Sony eReader
Alternative 2: Wait for the Indigo eReader
Alternative 3: The Astak EZReader
Alternative 4: The Cybook
Not sure which one I'm going to go with but I do know that Jeff Bezos and his Kindle can: to quote my good buddy "Suck My Ass"! :)
Well, you can take it personally, but Amazon is a business and would definitely want it to work for Canada (it'd be good for their bottom line), but as in the U.S. they have to first strike up a successful deal with telecom places as they did Sprint in th U.S. where they pay them a certain amount based on something like number of customers using the Kindle, in order to make it possible for device users to to just download books.
ReplyDeleteAnd THEN they have to have agreements in place with e-book publishers where the rules are strict (vs hardcover books) for making ebooks available in the various countries.
In the meantime, lots of Canadians and others outside the U.S. are making use of workarounds - buying the Kindle for shipping to a U.S. address (see links) and then using gift certificates on a 2nd Amazon account to buy digital content (ebooks) with, since Amazon gift certificates can be bought with any credit card, not just U.S. ones.
In summary, you need either a U.S. credit card from the U.S. to purchase digital content -or- gift certificates on an account that has a valid U.S. address registered as the customer address -- the address does not come into play when using gift certificates, so some use a 2nd account for that.
Obviously, this is a buyer workaround and Amazon can't sanction it (with publisher agreements and country policies for digital content in place) but you can see what others are doing -- there is an Amazon forum thread by many who live outside the U.S. who share info on how to enjoy the Kindle for downloaded e-books (downloaded ones are just moved to the Kindle with the included USB cable).
See Amazon forum thread at http://bit.ly/koutsusa
and Kindle-user tech tips at TheKindleChronicles at http://bit.ly/kcoutsus
- Andrys
http://kindleworld.blogspot.com
Thank you for the information Andrys. Your site is definitely informative.
ReplyDeleteI do respect that the cell phone network deal for setting up their whispernet download could be challenge but I still don't buy the copy right excuse. Yes they need to work out something for digitial media but as I said Sony, Barns and Noble, and numerous web stores have managed to figure that out. If they want to keep amazon.ca going in the future they need to address this sooner than later so why not do it now and sell the Kindle in Canada without the Whispernet feature.
I'm not interested in jumping thru loop holes to make a Kindle work. However, I am speaking for myself and I would encourage fellow Canuks willing to do so to look into your comments further.
Cheers
Wow, I'm impressed! How often do you see a comment that's longer than the blog itself?
ReplyDeleteAmazon can suck my ass too until they pull their heads out of their own asses and start supplying to Canada. Where there is the means to make a buck there is a way to make a buck, and Amazon just doesn't feel the Canadian market offers enough bucks to make it worth their while.
I completely empathize with Darcy on this one, it's frustrating being on this side of the border.
I do want to point out one warning for any Canadians or UK residents getting an American Kindle and using the work arounds to buy books. I suspect that like cell phones the Kindle is hard wired to attach to a certian cellular service provider. Consequently, there is a good chance that when and if they release the Kindle in the UK and Canadian your old American Kindle won't be able to attach to the cellular network. You'd have to buy a new Kindle meant for your country if you want to start using the Whispernet service meant for your country. Hope that make sense .. I may be wrong on this but I think it's a legitimate warning.
ReplyDelete