03-15-2010, 02:37 PM | #196 | |
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ereaders are available in the Muslim world
yes of course, many of these countries have ebook readers. plus, many people writing here suffer from a seriously flawed perception of Muslim countries. They associate them too much with Taliban. It would be the same thing if Muslims take February 2010 issue of National Geographic and conclude from the story that all Americans marry 10 women and have 250 grandchildren.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20.../anderson-text Many of the countries left out have good infrastructure and liberal economic systems. think of Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain in the Arab world, Turkey, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Central Asian republics, etc. Can you put them in the same category of countries with Myanmar where kindle can be ordered and ebooks downloaded. Now looking at the map of kindle availability, I am puzzled to see that there is a strong correlation between no-kindle and Muslim majority. I want to understand this and know if amazon attempted to include those countries in the Muslim world but they did not want it. I received a response from amazon customer service, which basically stated that they forwarded my response to kindle department. Quote:
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03-15-2010, 02:41 PM | #197 |
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Muslim world is not a geographic term. it expands from Morocco to Indonesia. Turkey is in Europe, Egypt in Africa, Pakistan in South Asia, Indonesia in Southeast Asia. in each of these geographical units, other countries are included. so your argument is not true.
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03-15-2010, 02:51 PM | #198 | |
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Luqman |
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03-15-2010, 03:09 PM | #199 |
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I still think there are multiple reasons - though there is one thought that does leap to mind.
It might have to do with cover images, in that as I understand it there is a strong bias against if not prohibition of representational art in Islam. I'm not sure of the details, but I've heard enough about it that I'm sure there's at least some truth in the basic idea. Maybe they decided not to extend to Islamic countries because of concern about that prohibition and are involved in researching it on a case-by-case basis. I don't know for sure, but I think that's one possibility. |
03-15-2010, 04:36 PM | #200 | |
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cover images no problem
cover images are everywhere in bookstores and newsstands. in many of them, cover images of magazines are much more liberal than the ones in the United States.
representational art in Islam while traditionally discouraged still took place several hundred years ago in the form of miniatures. an example for a miniature from Iran: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sa...tan_Palace.jpg an example from the Ottoman Empire: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...ith_dishes.jpg Quote:
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03-15-2010, 08:15 PM | #201 | |
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You were in Pakistan. All that I see of it is from the news. Are the people outside of the (Pakistan and Bangladesh) cities able to spend enough to buy a Kindle? Even in the rural US areas a farmer can buy a Kindle. (If he doesn't have "10 women and have 250 grandchildren".) Like me, he will think about what else he could use the money on. But Johnny or Judy Appleseed can do it with just a little savings in a week to a month, or two if needed. A better way to say it is "what is the cost as a percentage of income for all nations?" Is it easier for a farmer in Germany to buy a Kindle than a Pakistani? Is it easier for a farmer in Italy to buy a Kindle than in India? Is it easier for a farmer in Dubai to buy a Kindle than a Bangladesh? Relative Per Capita Income Rates will make a difference. It may have nothing to do with religion. Economically, the farmer in Bangladesh may have more in common with the farmer in the Appalachian mountains. Just plain dirt poor. Last edited by HorridRedDog; 03-15-2010 at 08:17 PM. |
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03-15-2010, 08:52 PM | #202 |
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(without trying to presume Amazon's intent) it may that they just can't really SELL the hardware or books in those regions. Either or both. Maybe rampant piracy, or stringent government restrictions, censorship, who knows. What about the legal implications of selling the Kindle in those countries. It hasn't really been that long since the Kindle and Amazon books have been available outside USA, has it? Maybe they just need to ramp up!
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03-16-2010, 01:05 AM | #203 | |
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And what is more sensitive than culture, reading? Last edited by HansTWN; 03-16-2010 at 01:10 AM. |
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03-16-2010, 01:39 AM | #204 | |
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Last time I checked Bosnia was 40-ish % Bosniac (Muslim), the rest is split between Serb (Orthodox Christian) and Croat (Catholic Christian) population. This hardly makes Bosnia-Herzegovina a Muslim country, does it? Another thing - I don't buy this conspiracy theory excrement. Amazon would sell to the whole world if they could. The deal with e-books and Amazon (as it has been discussed ad nauseam on this forum) is the geographic copyright restrictions AND lack of deals with telcos in perspective countries (for Kindle wireless). I don't know where you get your information from but you may want to re-check. |
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03-16-2010, 01:45 AM | #205 | |
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Should this be the case, then the whole internet would be blocked in most of these countries. Granted, filters are there, but that's different (probably not worse than in China). These countries are different, but trust me (I'm talking from personal experience here) these people have no issues with mainstream banking, media, books, etc. Let me give you an example - traditional western banking is heavily used in Saudi Arabia - in addition to Islamic banking. Things are not always as simple as they are portraied in the media. |
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03-16-2010, 01:48 AM | #206 | |
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As a coincidence, here's a blurb from an UAE paper this morning about e-books:
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03-16-2010, 02:03 AM | #207 |
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why don't y'all let Amazon give an official answer instead of mudslinging?
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03-16-2010, 12:29 PM | #208 | |
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03-16-2010, 01:22 PM | #209 |
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yeah, a lot like pig wrasslin'. everyone gets dirty and only the pig has fun
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03-16-2010, 01:56 PM | #210 | |
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market sizes
yes, you are right about the markets. however, Pakistan and Bangladesh would still have a huge number of people with enormous wealth, literate in English. the rich in those countries would outnumber many rich but small countries.
However, if you have kindle availability in a number of small and poor countries you would wonder why poor but large countries are not included. Pakistan and Bangladesh are English-speaking countries, so they would have many ready customers for English books. You also have many Arabic speaking countries where English is readily accessible. Quote:
Last edited by MattP; 03-16-2010 at 02:00 PM. |
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censorship, international, islam, kindle, muslim |
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