Quote:
Originally Posted by dragonbone
I am only going to mention the Kindle and the iPad, since those are the only 2 readers so far, that will truly be 'international'.
I think it will be a big hit all around the world and change everything regarding mobile ereading.
As an example: In my case, to buy the KindleDXi from Amazon.com, (it cannot be directly ordered though a 'local' Amazon) it will cost about $600! Every third or fourth book I will try to buy - will not 'available to my geographical location'. All the 'free' books for USA citizens, cost $2 to the international community.
If I don't live in Mexico, Japan or Hong Kong, the internet browser will not be available.
Now for the BIG one IMHO:
The iPad is multi-lingual!!! That means people from all over the world can use it straight out of the box.
Every country/language has their own Apps AFAIK, (here in Japan for eg., there seem to be thousands of Japanese Apps in the iTunes store - PLUS all the English ones) and all the new cool built in Apps, like for eg. the calender, photos, iWork , iBooks etc. etc. will work in their OWN language, plus of course all the thousands of Apps already in the iTunes store. I think few English speaking people in America realize the importance of this...
The USA is only one country! The ipad will be released simultaneously worldwide and on a massive scale.
There are many countries that Kindle and other readers aren't shipped to at all. The literate world is moving rapidly towards ereading, not only English speaking Americans... this is the device that will change everything and kids that sniggered about mom & dad's Kindle, will now WANT an iPad!
Kindle's UI is English only, it only reads books. Only reads ENGLISH books natively. End of story. 
Just my 2 cents... |
You forgot that Itunes' regional restrictions are MUCH WORSE than Amazon's. You cannot buy anything on US Itunes if you are not an American resident and the same thing in Itunes elsewhere costs 50% more. And don't think for a minute that books that are not available for your country on Amazon will be on Itunes!
And the Kindle can display other languages, just use PDF.
Of course, the iPad will also be more expensive in your country than in the US. And buy the same ratio as the Kindle. So that 599 USD iPad (forget the 499.- 16GB version, that is a marketing gimmick, not a real option) will be USD 900 for you including all charges.