February 11, 2009 2:09 PM
- Text
Amazon's UK Launch Of Kindle Delayed
(PaidContent.org)
This story was written by Dianne See Morrison.
Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) won't be releasing its Kindle e-book device in the UK in time for Christmas, thanks to the complex agreements that it must secure with European operators to ensure the gadget works. In the US, Kindle uses whispernet, the Amazon data MVNO that uses the Sprint (NYSE: S) EVDO network to allow users to wirelessly download content. As Amazon UK MD Brian McBride told The Bookseller: "If you need agreement with carriers in the US, there is one carrier. In Europe it is a minefield as there are so many operators. If you buy a Kindle in the UK and want to read it on the beach on holiday in Spain, unless we have signed deals in Spain it is not going to work on that beach." McBride said he expected the device to hit the UK next year.
Book industry executives may be reading the news with a little sigh of relief. An informal survey conducted by the organizers of Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest gathering of its kind, found that the "spectre of the digital future" has many of them worried about their fate, reports Deutche Press Agentur (via monstersandcritics.com).
By Dianne See Morrison
Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) won't be releasing its Kindle e-book device in the UK in time for Christmas, thanks to the complex agreements that it must secure with European operators to ensure the gadget works. In the US, Kindle uses whispernet, the Amazon data MVNO that uses the Sprint (NYSE: S) EVDO network to allow users to wirelessly download content. As Amazon UK MD Brian McBride told The Bookseller: "If you need agreement with carriers in the US, there is one carrier. In Europe it is a minefield as there are so many operators. If you buy a Kindle in the UK and want to read it on the beach on holiday in Spain, unless we have signed deals in Spain it is not going to work on that beach." McBride said he expected the device to hit the UK next year.
Book industry executives may be reading the news with a little sigh of relief. An informal survey conducted by the organizers of Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest gathering of its kind, found that the "spectre of the digital future" has many of them worried about their fate, reports Deutche Press Agentur (via monstersandcritics.com).
By Dianne See Morrison
Latest Now in MoneyWatch
- Ohio unemployment hits 3-year-low
- Jill on Money: Retirement investing, allocation, long term care
- Could "web-lining" be dangerous?
- Insurers respond cautiously to contraceptive plan
- Judge: Legally, breastfeeding not related to pregnancy
- Budget deficit drops to $27 billion in January
- Why the Powerball Jackpot is part of my investment strategy
- Is the new VW Beetle diesel worth the money?
- Consumer sentiment highlights risks to recovery
- Valentine blues? 10 best cities to be single
- December trade deficit widens to $48.8 billion
- Alcatel-Lucent returns to profit in 2011
- 6 things never to say in a performance review
- $26B mortgage deal: Who gets the money?
- Friendly's CEO steps down
- Quarterly loss hits $3.3B at Postal Service
- Greeks rail against cuts as EU demands more
Latest CBS News Headlines
on Facebook Most Discussed Stories
on CBS News
- Private jet crashes in Congo, death toll unknown
- How the revolution became digitized
- Congo official says a private jet has crashed at the Bukavu city airport, death toll unknown
- White House: Matter of time before Assad falls
on Facebook Most Discussed Stories
on CBS News
