Amazon e-books outside of the US

[astra]

I vote for Yes, I would support, but if Sony makes a similar product, there is a big chance I would choose Sony over Kindle.

[rcuadro]

I believe in the freedom of information, and as long as the authors can get compensated for their work, sell the books to every one!

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Jon, why the worry? Let the consumer decide. Amazon must come to the European market - they are such a big and important player. Give them time, and they will see what the consumer wants most.

Exactly right. And I predict the realities of the overseas market will force Amazon to revisit formats (ePub), devices (all) and prices (lower).

Come to think of it... maybe that's why they haven't made much of an effort to do so yet...

[pdurrant]

A very good point. I stand corrected. Can I change my vote? :-)

Originally Posted by Ryuujin27

For now. However, what's stopping them from expanding their contracts? There's an amazon.co.uk, amazon.co.jp, etc. Could they not use this to hit those markets as well?

[thianliongpatpoh]

I vote for YES. Until I downloaded Kindle App from iTunes US Store, I can only read with envy when amazon offers free ebooks from various authors to promote their series or launching of new pbook.
I don't live in US. I don't have Kindle (1, 2, DX). What I have was iPhone 2G, and now iPhone 3G. I was able to create an iTunes US Store account, without having a US based credit card. This allows me to download and install Kindle app to my iPhone device. I have been an international amazon customer since mid 90'es. I went through their .lit ebooks era, bought and lost my .lit library (lucky I have the undrm-ed backup), I even went thru their .pdf era (and now I can't open them friggin PDF, having moved from old pentium to various new 'puters).
With Kindle app, i can now download the free ebooks from amazon (by registering my iPhone device to my amazon account. I tested purchasing ebooks. Failed - due to geolocation and my credit card not a US based one. I tested sending samples. The ebook samples appeared on my iPhone.
I then bought Amazon Gift Certificates. Applied it to my amazon account. I purchased Kindle ebooks. Voila, the ebook(s) (.prc) appeared on my iPhone.
Amazon gets their seller's and wireless' service fees (i think). Author (and publisher) gets my money from my purchase. Author (and publisher?) should be happy. Amazon should be happy. I AM happy I can purchase/sample/read Kindle ebooks.
While I don't know whether I would buy 'international' Kindle (1,2,DX), since I'm quite satisfied with my current device, I think I can speak from experience that with 1 international sale of 1 particular ebook, all parties are going to be happy.
Oh, one strange thing. I was browsing kindle ebooks store, and stumbled into a kindle ebooks with MANDARIN title. I downloaded the sample, and inside it are stories in Chinese characters! It turned out I have a translated pbook version of this story (a novella), printed in 1960-es.
As to whether publisher has to deal with international distributions and whatnot, look at Fictionwise, BooksonBoard, eReader, Powell and other ebookstores. They can sell internationally, and have application that will flag an ebook when the rights prevent it to be sold outside US. "Not available to sell outside US," or similar to that statement.

[igorsk]

Originally Posted by Ryuujin27

I am absolutely dying for them to bring such a service to Japan. Unfortunately, there just aren't that many PDF'd (?) versions of many books. I can find a decent number of novels at various Japanese online... man, I really don't know what to even call them in english, ebook stores?? (日本語:電子書店). But there is no digitalized version of the Harry Potter books in Japanese, for example.

Just so you don't feel bad, there is no (official) "digitalized version of the Harry Potter books" anywhere, not just in Japan.

[HarryT]

A petition is a waste of time. We all know that Amazon would love to sell the Kindle outside the US. It's "legal stuff" that's delaying it, not "technology". I'm sure it will be released elsewhere as soon as possible.