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08 Oct 2009
Amazon confirmed the European release of its Kindle e-book yesterday, but failed to announce its telco suppliers.
One of the reasons Amazon gave for not releasing the gadget in Europe straightaway was that the firm was involved in protracted negotiations with different telecoms companies.
However, a report in The Daily Telegraph claims that the UK's mobile phone companies have still not been contacted as to which of them has the contract.
Vodafone and O2 said they were "puzzled" by the news that the Kindle has set its worldwide launch for 19 October. Both companies had been pitching for the job, but only heard about the announcement at about the same time as the rest of the world.
Amazon will begin shipping a new version of the Kindle later this month that can be used to purchase and download books in over 100 countries. The web giant has dubbed the new version the 'Kindle with US and International Wireless'. But no supplier is mentioned.
Connectivity could be supplied through AT&T's network of partners, but apparently even AT&T has not contacted its telecoms peers to sort out the service.
If Amazon does not figure this out rather quickly there could soon be a lot of disgruntled Kindle owners in Europe.
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Do you agree?
Ebooks wont be popular
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
Posted by: Khan 11 Oct 2009
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Demonstrates how communication and network providers can stifle innovation. We need to our move networking and communications capabilities onto platforms which are not wrapped up in masses of red tape, terms of service and vendors politics and favoritism.
Posted by: Stephen Bennett 08 Oct 2009
No need for negotiations
I am assuming the Kindle, under an agreement between AT&T Wireless and Amazon, will just be another international roaming device. Amazon would have contracted with the one supplier, and be using a flat fee rate structure, as they have done with the domestic Kindle. The Kindle is not a high bandwidth device, so I am not seeing an issue, or a reason why Amazon or AT&T Wireless should be talking separately to some 400 or 500 partners worldwide.
Posted by: Menno Aartsen 08 Oct 2009