Kindle eBook reader not available in Canada
November 19, 2007 · Print This Article
Yeah, this is off topic, but I when I’m not doing the video game thing, I’m reading books. I read a LOT of books.
And I would really, really like an e-paper based eBook reader. So today Amazon launched their new eBook reader, the Kindle. It’s ugly as fuck, but they have some sweet wireless setup going on. Unlike basically every other reader out there, the Kindle has a free, EV-DO based wireless network that allows you to browse, buy, and download eBooks from Amazon’s ever increasing collection (they plan to eventually make every book they carry available). You can also grab newspaper, blogs, RSS feeds, etc.
Great, sign me up. Take my $400 dollars, I don’t care that your device is hideous, it looks marvelous. Wait a second, as per usual, Canada gets the raw end of the stick. Despite the fact that Sprint and Bell Mobility have agreements with each other, Amazon’s Whispernet does not work outside of the 50 US States.
Ever wonder why Canada is a haven for piracy? Maybe it’s because companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Sony, and Apple - the premiere offerers of digital content - don’t fucking offer their services in Canada. Remember prohibition? If there’s a demand for something, it doesn’t matter if it’s illegal, people will obtain it. And unlike prohibition, under which criminal organizations were still charging money for booze, digital content is free to steal.
I don’t know whether the issues are legal or economic, but once there’s a culture of theft that’s been established for a long time, it’s very difficult to legitimately offer content and expect the people you’ve been shirking in the past to expect to pay for your shit.
I found your page while searching for Kindle and Canada on Technorati. I echo your thoughts regarding the Kindle not being available in Canada. I’m disappointed that they didn’t throw in a standard wireless card into the reader and after going through the documentation, though there is a USB connection, there doesn’t seem to be a synching mechanism for the PC. I’m hoping they open this up to Canada soon.
I totally agree. I saw a Canadian program that featured this product and I thought cool! I have to get me one of those. And low and behold- not available outside the US. Whats up with that!!! Surely the big boys can come to some kind of agreement. The people that lose are our kids . My kids read all the time. Actually they are not kids anymore(20 &21) but this would be such a bonus for them. Text books,leasure reading whatever. I personally would buy one for each of them. You people do the math because I think there is a lot of parents that feel the same way I do
I agree completely with you about getting the Kindle in Canada. In fact, I agree so much that I’ve started a blog at iwantakindle.blogspot.com. Please help me pass the word along. And if you happen to find Jeff Bezos’ email address, could you pass it along? Thanks.
Canada:
1.No iPhone
2. No Kindle
We are Loser Country. We suck. Always behind technologically.
It totally sucks!!!!!!! My coworker bought the Sony Reader and I just fell in love with it but as usual we are last to get in with the new tech!!!!! TSK! TSK!
WAKE UP CANADA! FOR GOD’S SAKE! GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!!!
The problem (for both kindle and iphone) is the wireless market in Canada. It is essentially a monopoly since for a single technology (e.g. GSM) there is only one carrier in a geographic region.
Rogers is already holding up the iPhone because their rates are so high. Perhaps even more fundamentally, the problem may be the CRTC. In lot of ways, such as privacy legislation, Canada is very progressive, but the CRTC is slow and non-progressive policies and the lack of competition this causes is a big shortcoming.
I think that the kindle is a great device and I would love to own one, if it could work here. I suppose this is because of the networks of the cell phone companies right now. Telus right now is switching over to GSM which could mean a iPhone soon. I think that Bell would be the next carrier that could supply it…
Well my parents live in the US and so I bought the Kindle, I thought, ‘It cool that I can’t get the books wirelessly, who cares, I can just download them from the Kindle store.’ Well they just fucked me over, they now do NOT allow you to use a CA Credit Card or Debit Card. My CA Cards were good enough to buy it, and get the first 10 books, but now they have limited it. Well, I emailed em to give em a piece of my mind and got a ‘Here is your money back for your books, your kindle area is closed, and here is your RMA for your Kindle, oh and make sure you box it up with all the content you got with it.’ Ummm, I love my Kindle, but I’m going to buy either a sony eBook reader, or a Cybook, these are the only ones that look ok. I do love the Kindle, but I would have to hack it to make it compatiable with other eBooks, they use their own encryption on the books based on your Kindle Serial, so unless I get my ebooks from Amazon, or hack the Kindle, I aint getting nothing. Anyway, sony will most likely be proprietary anyway, and so I will search for a ebook reader that isn’t. I don’t care if I gotta hook it to my puter to add books, so long as it aint proprietary, again I will be happy!
Cheers!
So much for our Free Trade Agreement.
Come on!. Canada is 10x better than the US of A, from an education, health care, literacy, any way you look at it.
Don’t kid yourself thinking Canada sucks because Jeff Bezos decided to paint himself into a corner by making the Kindle use EV-DO and thus making it a USA-only device.
Most of the world (western europe, South America) has embraced GSM as the standard. Down here there’s 3G as well (3GSM) but it’s overkill for small files like the ones the kindle uses. Even gprs would be enough.
In the end, the Kindle is a sh*tty device. I plan to get a Sony eReader. I hope people can hack it so it can open all sorts of formats.