Quote:
Originally Posted by grooks
It is not Sprint
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Well, if we can take at face value the statements made at last year's PRS-700 presentations, about Sony not willing to lock into a single cellular market, I should think the company meant either employing Wi-Fi (which would make a lot of sense) or a GSM provider with international roaming support (i.e. T-Mobile or AT&T). The problem with cellular networks is that it is not possible to make a device that it truly universal and still provides the same functionality in all parts of the world. Amazon was able to reach an agreement with Sprint, whereas the Kindle can be used essentially as a free unlimited wireless browser, which in itself is a rather good value (but only in the U.S., the outside world doesn't exist for Kindle). One can imagine reaching such agreements with individual wireless service providers, even national ones, but making this work throughout the world is nearly impossible. Unless a wireless data subscription is made to be a responsibility of each individual customer, in which case the deal doesn't compare favorably with the value of the Kindle.
Making a Wi-Fi device might make more sense. The device would work in any free wireless AP, web cafes, etc. You wouldn't be able to directly compare it to Kindle.