Sandpiper said:
Thinking of Canada . . . . Amazon doesn't ship Kindles to Canada? But if you had one up there, couldn't you get books / use it via a computer? Because of billing address, would Amazon know location of book purchaser and therefore would not sell a Kindle book to that Amazon account? But if a Canuck had a Kindle that was linked to a U.S. account, then . . . . That should work, huh?
You can't buy Kindle content if you don't have a Kindle registered to your account. If you try, it comes up with a message that says, "Hello, X, it appears you don't have a Kindle registered to this account."
Canadian customers usually buy through amazon.com.ca. That division of Amazon doesn't sell Kindles. You can only buy a Kindle from Amazon.com and their policy is that you need to have a US based credit card and US address to do so.
There have been huge, lengthy discussion on the Amazon boards by various international folks who have tried to come up with workarounds for international purchase and use. Because I was maintaining the FAQ, many of them asked me if I had suggestions for what they could do. My position was to refer them back to the Amazon policy. If they chose to buy a Kindle from eBay, I just reminded them of
caveat emptor: buyer beware. They might very well have an expensive electronic device for which they would be unable to purchase content from Amazon (of course, they could always get free books and books from other sites that do not have international restrictions).
Like I said in my other message, I think that Amazon is working hard to develop agreements so that the Kindle can be sold internationally. I suspect, but have no hard evidence of this, that international use is a higher priority than version 2 right now.
L