Amazon promises “free 3G wireless” when downloading books and newspaper on the new international Kindle. But free it is not – as prices for book and newspapers are significantly higher outside USA.
An article in PaidContent caught my attention to the issue. As I maintain both a US and a Norwegian account at Amazon, I went to check the prices on a selection of items.
I started with a subscription to the Washington Post.
Using Kindle in the USA you are asked to pay USD 9.99 per month:
However, if you want to subscribe to Washington Post at the international version of Kindle, Amazon suddenly asks for more than twice as much = USD 23.99.
Other newspapers were the same:
- The Financial Times costs $ 9.99 per month in the US and $ 27.99 internationally
- The French newspaper Les Echos costs $14.99 in the US and $19.99 internationally
- The Times costs $9.99 in the US and $22.99 internationally
- Frankfurter Allgemeine costs $14.99 in the US and $27.99 internationally
And so it goes on. The reason for the price difference is obvious. Amazon’s mobile partner AT & T is using its international roaming agreements to deliver the newspapers and those costs are higher than using their own network in USA.
What about books?
One of Amazon’s bestselling books at the moment is Glenn Beck: Arguing with idiots.
In the USA you pay $9.99, while the price on the international edition is $11.99.
The 2 dollar price difference seems to repeat itself as the standard extra fee for distributing book on the “free 3G wireless” you get included when you buy the international editon of Kindle.
Actually the price difference should not be surprising and probably is the result of Amazon having to depend on expensive international roaming agreements. For newspapers in particular, which are distributed daily, the price difference is so big that it may actually open up a window of opportunity for local players with better agreements with mobile operators.