NZ misses out on new worldwide Kindle

Good coffee and an e-read? Not in New Zealand.

Amazon has unveiled an international version of its vaunted electronic reader, the Kindle.

The bad news for Kiwis is that New Zealand has been left off the list.

Hoping to stimulate growth for the device - now into its second generation - Amazon will offer the Kindle in 100 markets.

It also dropped the price of the US version to $259 (NZ$346).

"We have millions of customers in countries all over the world who read English-language books," said Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, in a statement.

"Kindle enables these customers to think of a book and download it wirelessly in less than 60 seconds."

Australian users will be able to buy the 3G wireless-capable Kindle from Monday.

Countries that will be getting the device include Germany, the UK, even Zimbabwe and Fiji - but not New Zealand.

While Amazon partners with mobile carriers to deliver ebooks, Fiji for one has no suitable carrier, but buyers will be able to use the devices USB sync function to receive their reading material.

Those who have privately imported Kindles to New Zealand report using the USB sync function successfully.

Questions directed to the American online retailer about this country's omission went unanswered this morning.

A report from Forrester Research, released today, says that e-reader sales could reach three million this year, with Kindle cashing in 60% of sales and Sony's devices making up 35 per cent.

But Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said pricing of the devices needed to come down to appeal to the mass market.

She told AP that people "have somewhat unrealistic expectations of how much consumer electronics in general, and e-readers in particular, should be".

Jeff Bezos has described Kindle as Amazon's biggest selling product, although the company has not revealed sales figures for it.

He says Amazon sells 48 'Kindle copies' for every 100 printed versions of books, up from 35 per 100 five months ago.

It has a six-inch grey-scale screen, is famously light on power consumption and can store up to 1500 books.


- NZ HERALD STAFF