According to Mobile Today, “Amazon is understood to be frantically working on having the Kindle ready for launch before Christmas 2009 and has already secured agreements with a carrier and book publishers. It is also in the process of negotiating with news and magazine publishers.” What’s more stunning is the fact that this version of the Kindle will include Wifi. However, it is not clear which of the biggest carriers will carry the MVNO connection for the device, e.g. Vodafone, Orange and 3. Apparently Amazon was in talks with said carriers months ago but no announcements were made at the time and many had speculated that the discussions fizzled out; some have pointed towards T-Mobile as being a possible partner. Some have commented that Amazon should just release the thing with a sim-card slot that allows “pay as you go” access.
The Sony Reader has enjoyed an aura of exclusivity in the UK and some of Europe of being the only major electronic book device. The Reader is popular, but I have seen chatter on twitter from several UK consumers that groan about defaulting to it because the Kindle isn’t available there. It’s no secret that the Kindle is faring better in the USA than the Sony Reader, so we are really left to wonder what kind of impact this will have on UK (and eventually European) sales of the Reader when the Kindle arrives this holiday. Fortunately, Sony has gone on record and stated the next version of the Sony Reader will have connectivity options. It would be very interesting to see a wireless Sony Reader vs. a wireless Amazon Kindle in the UK, or even USA. If Amazon is bringing a WiFi Kindle to the UK, then you can be sure it will arrive in the USA.
Via engadget.
