Belgium? Check. Gabon? Check. Mexico? Check. Solomon Islands? Check.
If you happen to live in any of the above countries or dozens of others, you can now order the shiny new Amazon Kindle eBook reader, set to ship on October 19th. The Kindle allows you to download electronic books, newspapers and other content on the go.
For those of us in Canada though, no dice.
What’s worse is that Canucks have been tempted by the Kindle for years, knowing that it would only work on Sprint’s network in the United States. Now we get word that a new “international” version is about to be released and we are still being snubbed!
It isn’t like we don’t have the network(s) to handle it – the new version will roam on AT&T’s worldwide partners, which includes Rogers in Canada. Amazon could even choose to launch on Bell/Telus’ brand new HSPA network, also compatible.
Here’s another reason to be frustrated: as part of the flurry of Kindle announcements, Amazon cut the price on the device to U.S. $279.
So who is to blame? Amazon? Canadian telecom companies? Canadian publishers? Will there be a drawn-out battle among these groups to get the Kindle north of the 49th parallel?
Stay tuned and take comfort that folks in Myanmar (Burma) and Zimbabwe can enjoy their Kindles while we are left out in the cold.
