For quite some time now there has been a good deal of conjecture as to when, exactly, Amazon might release its Kindle reader worldwide. The original Kindle was launched in November 2007 with the Kindle 2 and the large screen Kindle DX being released in February and June of 2009 respectively.
Eighteen months and 2 hardware releases later there seems to be no sign of any imminent worldwide launch in the offing. US sales of the reader are strong – demand often exceeds supply and the device is out of stock quite often. Kindle book sales are also excellent (accounting for 35% of total sales when there is a Kindle edition on offer alongside the conventional printed versions) and the market for Kindle accessories is growing on a daily basis.
However, as impressive as current sales numbers are, it seems improbable that a company like Amazon would be satisfied with dominating the North American market whilst ignoring the possibilities on offer in the global arena. The fact that the Kindle’s main rival, (for the moment at least) the Sony PRS reader, is available worldwide and is enjoying an opportunity to establish brand loyalty in countries where the Kindle is unavailable must be a matter of some concern for Amazon.
Part of the problem seems to be the method of connection to the Amazon store. In the US, Amazon furnish a fee free 3G download service – by the name of “Whispernet” and provided by Sprint. It’s an attractive option for customers who perceive themselves to be less committed – albeit the cost of this service is reflected in the initial price of the hardware, the reader itself.
Recent discussions between Amazon and European telecoms service providers – T-Mobile and Vodafone – ended with Amazon suggesting that the service provider’s demands were “unreasonable”.
Considering that Sony have recently partnered with Google to make the search engine giant’s huge collection of public domain electronic books available free of charge to Sony PRS customers, and also bearing in mind that Apple will be releasing a tablet based notebook (perfect for reading ebooks) – it does seem reasonable to wonder how much longer Amazon can afford to wait before entering the global arena with its Kindle ebook reader.
On the other hand, it’s probably worth remembering that the Kindle was a pretty late edition to the ebook reader scene – the devices have been available since 1999 in various formats. It doesn’t seem to have done Amazon any great harm thus far and they may be confident that the time will be right when they say so and not before.