Kindle International in Malaysia

It works here!

USD259

they will not deliver to Malaysia.

but if you buy it and collect in US or Australia and bring it to Malaysia it will work here.

see my post at http://simply-whack.blogspot.com/2009/10/a...n-malaysia.html

enjoy!!

---

Added on November 2, 2009, 10:28 amthis is what i posted in my blog http://simply-whack.blogspot.com/2009/10/a...n-malaysia.html

Amazon Kindle in Malaysia

Yes, it does work here!

I was able to get Amazon to deliver to me a Kindle International unit to me while I was in USA during the launch on 19 Oct.

If you browse the Kindle website you will get this message when choosing Malaysia:

Malaysia
Unfortunately, we are currently unable to ship Kindles or offer Kindle content in Malaysia.

I shall not post a review of the Kindle device itself, there are many online. Suffice to say , it is a nice device and does what it says it does, and does it well. And it has a few surprises.

Amazon originally billed USD279 for the device plus free shipping, but then refunded USD20 after they lowered the prices after shipping the device. I received it in Miami on Fri 23 Oct.

The device powered up nicely but I was unable to see any books, magazines or periodicals for sale. I thought this was due to some congestion or all the new users logging in simultaneously. What happens is that Amazon offers stuff to you based upon your residency. I guess that the way these things are sold worldwide are on a territorial basis. So Amazon have different offerings and pricing for different locations around the world. Just as they will not deliver a kindle to Malaysia, if you are registered in Amazon as being in Malaysia then the store offers you zilch. So , you need to update your location on the Amazon kindle website as being in USA. Once i did that I was able to see the 367,940 books available, browse internet (yes an experiment)

So using the device worked in the USA.

During the flight to Kuala Lumpur, we transit in Taipei.

The kindle works on the GSM system. It finds a GSM network itself and you are online. So it was online in Taipei. It just does it itself, like a good phone will. In Taipei I got several messages which advised me to pay USD4.99 per week to get unlimited deliveries while travelling overseas. So if you want to be super mobile and get stuff anywhere, there is a cost for being outside the USA. However Kindle stores any items online and you plug into a computer through a USB device and download any item via the internet.

I have been getting daily copies of the Wall Street Journal and reading it on the kindle daily.

The power is 110-240V and also powers from the USB.

So, in summary. You can use the KIndle International in Malaysia. You need work out how to deliver it to a US address (australia works too) and change your location to USA to be delivered stuff online, or pay more for wireless delivery.

One caveat, the nook has been announced by Barnes and Noble. It will be launched in Nov 09. I sam copies of the brochure at a Barnes & Noble store in Los Angeles and it looks very nice, including a colour portion of the screen and touch screen as oppose to the Kindle QWERTY keys.

It looks good.

This post has been edited by razlanabas: Nov 2 2009, 10:28 AM

Merry Christmas,

I recently travelled to Singapore, Indonesia and Australia with the Kindle International. I was not able to get any signal in Indonesia but was fine in Singapore and Australia.

During the time in Australia, i subscribed to the USD4.99 weekly connection fee and had periodicals and newspaper subscriptions delivered wirelessly ok.

I browsed the Amazon site and purchased two books and they charge the extra USD1.99 wireless download.

One useful thing is that the experimental web browser works and do not cost anything to use. So i was able to Gmail, Twitter and Facebook during this period.

I emailed Amazon about my problem in Indonesia and they replied promptly with an easter egg how to find the list of GSM Carriers signals and connect. The trick is to be in the settings page, then key in 311...

I believe the kindle is a sign of the future tablets and devices that will connect online via GSM but not for voice...