Quote:
Originally Posted by ixtab
Heh... that's even more interesting, because all Kindles (with or without SO) carry the exact same firmware. The "should I show ads?" status is only set once the Kindle is registered by phoning home to Amazon. In essence, it's a simple flag stored in Amazon's database.
It's purely a software setting, and one that doesn't even need initialization. Why one version would be available while the other one isn't - well, that's beyond my logic.
PS: Yes, I'm aware that Amazon also ships "pre-registered" Kindles. I don't know how exactly that works, but I assume that it's simply something like "boot the device once, request owner/SO information, shut down". It boils down to the same as above, with one intermediate step before shipping.
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I can confirm that the with-ads version is 'short in supply' this past month and amazon has a very strict purchasing limit (so strict that multiple orders were cancelled and account closure raised for the too determined). I think it may be a business decision, to push more to buy the $20-version. The Japanese store has the same policy (1 only and strictly Japanese buyers), and I heard the Chinese store too for a number of months...
All the WiFi models are now not selling at the US store, with no indication of re-supplies!