Kindle goes to Europe…

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I’ve been showing around my Kindle at tons of places to tons of people. Last night I showed it off at a small dinner of great people (Dave Sifry has some great photos). In London I showed it off at the geek dinner.

Reaction has been the same: poor design, interesting idea, weird/crappy look. Very few people tell me they are interested enough in buying one.

Me? I do love the process of reading on it after you ignore the design. It is awkward to hold and it hasn’t gotten less awkward over time, even after reading a ton on it.

Interesting that this doesn’t get people asking me about it the way the iPhone did. No one has stopped me in the train asking about it.

One other thing? The cheap white plastic is getting dirty after being handed around so much.

Oh, and on the Kindle topic I see that Joe Wikert, an executive with Wiley, one of the largest and oldest book publishers around, has started a blog to specifically talk about the Kindle. Subscribed!

We’re all off to see the Louvre. See ya soon.

Published by Robert Scoble

I help entrepreneurs build their technology business' story, help with getting ready for investors, with other launch plans, and many other strategic things that can help your new startup. Call to talk: +1-425-205-1921 (text first).

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28 thoughts on “Kindle goes to Europe…”

  5. Cool 😉 From what I saw in your videos and on the Amazon page I really like the Kindle. I asked on askville.amazon.com and some other “question sites” if the Kindle will be availible in Europe soon. But no answer yet.

    Do you know more? I guess the main problem is the negotiations with one of our mobile carriers. If not, feel free to leave me yours 😉 I bet you already have very nice books on it 🙂

    Best Regards from Germany

    Markus

    Like

  6. Cool 😉 From what I saw in your videos and on the Amazon page I really like the Kindle. I asked on askville.amazon.com and some other “question sites” if the Kindle will be availible in Europe soon. But no answer yet.

    Do you know more? I guess the main problem is the negotiations with one of our mobile carriers. If not, feel free to leave me yours 😉 I bet you already have very nice books on it 🙂

    Best Regards from Germany

    Markus

    Like

  7. I would hope people would NOT notice it so they can you leave you alone and you can get some reading done.

    No one ever asked me about my Sony Reader, which was awesome, cuz it looked like I was, well, reading a book.

    I hate that about the iPhone, I’m suddenly a booth bunny and have to do a trick. (And I’m an egomaniac, too, I should love the attention)

    Of course, I don’t know if it is stated, but isn’t this an America-only device? EVDO is a high speed network that’s not part of the ‘80% of the world’s phones’ grouping.

    Glad to hear you are using it and ignoring the design. I bet you get some actual book reading done that way. 😉

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  8. I would hope people would NOT notice it so they can you leave you alone and you can get some reading done.

    No one ever asked me about my Sony Reader, which was awesome, cuz it looked like I was, well, reading a book.

    I hate that about the iPhone, I’m suddenly a booth bunny and have to do a trick. (And I’m an egomaniac, too, I should love the attention)

    Of course, I don’t know if it is stated, but isn’t this an America-only device? EVDO is a high speed network that’s not part of the ‘80% of the world’s phones’ grouping.

    Glad to hear you are using it and ignoring the design. I bet you get some actual book reading done that way. 😉

    Like

  9. As soon as the design issues get resolved, the Kindle will take off. Funny – it has taken more than 24 years for this to take root. I wrote my master’s thesis in 1984 – yes 1984 – on ebooks. Back then, the so-called “electronic novels” were available through videotex.

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  10. As soon as the design issues get resolved, the Kindle will take off. Funny – it has taken more than 24 years for this to take root. I wrote my master’s thesis in 1984 – yes 1984 – on ebooks. Back then, the so-called “electronic novels” were available through videotex.

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  15. @Robert: how much is Amazon sharing with you out of the subscription i’m now paying for scobleizer on my Kindle?

    also, surprised nobody has picked up on the Green aspect of the Kindle.

    i agree with the consensus: great service, ok device. but i’m paying for subscriptions to the ny times, wall street journal, mercury news, and scobleizer. i haven’t paid for a newspaper subscription in probably a decade.

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  16. @Robert: how much is Amazon sharing with you out of the subscription i’m now paying for scobleizer on my Kindle?

    also, surprised nobody has picked up on the Green aspect of the Kindle.

    i agree with the consensus: great service, ok device. but i’m paying for subscriptions to the ny times, wall street journal, mercury news, and scobleizer. i haven’t paid for a newspaper subscription in probably a decade.

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  17. Markus: Amazon.com lets you buy the Kindle with a “european” credit card, as long as the delivery address is in the US (just find someone who forwards it to you). EVDO doesn’t work, but it’s got USB.

    Alfredo Octavio: Unfortunately Amazon.com does not let you buy ebooks to download on a PC. Still, reading TXT and DOC or PDF documents converted to PRC (using e.g. http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/ProductDetailsReader.asp) works pretty well.

    Regards,
    tamberg

    Like

  18. Markus: Amazon.com lets you buy the Kindle with a “european” credit card, as long as the delivery address is in the US (just find someone who forwards it to you). EVDO doesn’t work, but it’s got USB.

    Alfredo Octavio: Unfortunately Amazon.com does not let you buy ebooks to download on a PC. Still, reading TXT and DOC or PDF documents converted to PRC (using e.g. http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/ProductDetailsReader.asp) works pretty well.

    Regards,
    tamberg

    Like

  19. in my opinion this device makes no sense in you can not download amazon books to it. i am getting constantly frustrated with the prices on the european (german in my case) amazon. here paperbacks are usually twice as expensive as in the us. so how great it would be if one could instantly get a book for ten bucks (something around 7 euro i guess) instead of paying 15-20 and then waiting 1-2 weeks for it to arrive from US (i usually buy on the marketplace cause directly from amazon is even more expensive)! well, seems too good to ever become true. the only way to get cheep books i guess, is to emigrate from this VAT-plagued continent:)

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  20. in my opinion this device makes no sense in you can not download amazon books to it. i am getting constantly frustrated with the prices on the european (german in my case) amazon. here paperbacks are usually twice as expensive as in the us. so how great it would be if one could instantly get a book for ten bucks (something around 7 euro i guess) instead of paying 15-20 and then waiting 1-2 weeks for it to arrive from US (i usually buy on the marketplace cause directly from amazon is even more expensive)! well, seems too good to ever become true. the only way to get cheep books i guess, is to emigrate from this VAT-plagued continent:)

    Like

  25. I purchased my Kindle from Switzerland using a US shipping address, now I am unable to buy content since my CCard address is in Switzerland. Any idea how could I buy content there? I have friends in the state who could purchase the content… any way to send it over to a place outside the states?

    Thank you
    Gustavo.-

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  26. I purchased my Kindle from Switzerland using a US shipping address, now I am unable to buy content since my CCard address is in Switzerland. Any idea how could I buy content there? I have friends in the state who could purchase the content… any way to send it over to a place outside the states?

    Thank you
    Gustavo.-

    Like

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