There had been a
short discussion (there are no long discussions any more) on mobipocket on tighter regional restrictions. This lead me to a little rethink and recap of the Mobipocket demise.
As far as I counted Amazon took the following steps towards a potential shut down of Mobipocket:
- Halt all Software development - The latest software release way January 19th, 2009.
- Outsource customer service - The forums are not monitored any more, e-mail service is reported to handle only the most standard problems.
- No new Perry Rhodan subscription - The interesting twist here is the fact that the subscription runs for 50 weeks and is paid in full upfront.
- Disallowing new registration for non USA publishers - Which is what this thread is all about
- Tightening up regional restrictions - The new one which reduces attractiveness for non USA customers.
Did I miss anything? Of course for all but the first point one can find a perfectly legitimate explanation not involving a potential shut down of Mobipocket.
Martin