The paperwhite is a different story. it’s higher res, higher contrast, and the lighting looks far better and more convenient than any other e-ink reader. I’d probably have already ordered one if it was available. I can understand the fire model not being for sale due to content distribution issues, but the paperwhite can’t do anything the base model can’t do.

i would be very interested to know, as i have been an amazon customer for quite a while, but like others, am considering moving on…

I know! How good is the Nexus 7!

And my thoughts exactly. I currently don’t like how Apple OR Samsung are acting. I also don’t like their mobile products, or Apple’s PC products (although I have to admit a penchant for the Samsung 9 series Laptops….mmmm, delicious). So I don’t buy their products or services. Simple enough. However, if one becomes a dominant monopoly, THAT’s when it becomes hard to vote against them by buying someone else….which is the way we’re headed.

Amazon need to learn decent trade practices and global markets.

I am loving mine :)

I have purchased books from Amazon in the past but have not for a long time due to their dumb ass restrictions on buying from Australia.

If you don’t like the behaviour of a company, then don’t buy from them. I do not personally believe any product is a must have so have no issues with forgoing buying from companies that have policies that irritate me. If they want to make money from me they will need to sell what I want at a globally competitive price.

Get a Nexus 7.

End problem.

Amazon want to be stupid, remove your business from them.

at least the 7″ model…

The rest of the content industry failed to learn from the music industry and has painted themselves into a corner. Users got used to low opportunity cost for accessing music by using “free” sources for digital content because there wasn’t anything else available. End result with the music industry was when they finally caught(or others dragged them) their customer base was no longer willing to pay what they wanted to charge and the lower barrier to entree for online content also meant that if you tried charge more that unless you had truly premium product you missed out on sales anyway. Globalization has reach a point where customer want to take advantage or same things corporation do and expect to be able source their goods and content and goods globally also.

In Australia we have the major problem of content supplier charging a price premium over the global rate for a product that isn’t as good as what is available on the global market, in fact most of the content is as good as what is available from the “free” sources. So their client base is getting used to a lower opportunity cost for the content and when they finally catch up their customer base will no longer be willing to pay the price they are used to. They can whinge and complain about piracy as much as they want but if you try to charge a premium for a worst product you will usually lose out(not everyone can be Apple and even they are beginning to change).

I’m not angry or offended by Amazon’s attitude, I just don’t get it. Surely the company is well beyond dipping its toe in the water by now.

The Fire is about user experience and content. If you cannot deliver most of that content, then the user will be dissatisfied.

Google’s Nexus is available in Australia, but does not have all the content offerings it was designed for. That’s fine, Google decided that 80% was good enough for a tablet that was meant to do more than just content consumption.

Amazon wouldn’t even have that 80%. They would need to make local music deals, movie deals, maybe get local magazines on board… and since content is all Amazon offers, it would not make business sense to launch without the entire enchilada.

These are some sexy tablets, but they would be crippled in Australia. One only hopes that Amazon is developing those content deals here for down the track.

Yep – the who scumbag American content control system – going all around the world.

I don’t support “freeware / costless content” but I understand why people just don’t put up with the bullshit from the corporate moron types.

I would like to try one of the newer touch models and have even considered trying to get a Fire (which you can through http://www.readershop.com.au) however the prices are much higher than in the US. Seems like we are being locked out yet again from the newer models. Seems like they want to dump the older models here

The issue of content is a another big downer with Kindles. So much of the content available on line through Amazon is blocked to us with Oz IP addresses. It just infuriates me so much. Made me go and download a million books elsewhere. The use of Calibre to manage various nonDRM formats has been a fantastic experiment

Amazon! your marketing is just so dreadful downunder.

Would love to see a kindle paper white before buying it to see if I can stand the back light arrangement before replacing my kindle keyboard with one. I would likely even buy it at a retail store because like my kindle keyboard before, it is likely to be a snap purchase.