[LINK] Kindle in AU with free 3G

[Tom Worthington]

Jan Whitaker wrote:
> they're he-ere. ...

With the previous International version of the Kindle, Australian users 
were charged $2 extra per book, to cover the cost of wireless access. 
If this is still the case with the new model, then the 3G access is not 
exactly "free".

Also Australian users were blocked from using the Kindle's limited web 
browser (available in the USA). Is this still the case with the new model?

The lack of web access must have being driving readers of the Kindle 
version of my book "Green Technology Strategies" nuts: 
<http://amzn.to/8m3Kxz>.

I peppered the text with hypertext links, on the assumption the average 
e-book reader would have Internet access: 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/green/ebook.shtml>.

The file size of an e-book is not that large, so having 3G access will 
not make a significant difference to the process of buying a book. The 
difficulty in getting content into the Kinde from anywhere else than 
from the Amazon store (compared to other e-book readers) seems a bigger issue.

The limited support for multimedia, particularity video, makes 3G less of an issue for e-book readers compared to other information appliances. You can't watch a video on a Kindle, so not being able to download large files quickly is not much of an issue.

Compared to a paper book, a Kindle is a magical device. But compared to 
the Apple iPad (or the average $400 netbook), the Kindle reader is a 
clunky information appliance, with a slowly refreshing, dull monochrome 
screen and tiny clicky keys. Having 3G on such a device done not improve it greatly.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au


-- 
  Tom Worthington FACS HLM
  PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia
  http://www.tomw.net.au