Since discovering that the Kindle DX will not be available in Canada, I have started hunting for information about why this is the case. Ken Coates for the Toronto Star has an idea on the subject. He writes:
In truth, the most serious problem rests with uncritical and undemanding consumers. Save for a tiny number of tech fanatics, few Canadians have even an inkling about what is going on with the digital media in other countries. When news hits of a Kindle-type innovation, Canadians accept the inevitable delays with quiet resignation. There is no groundswell of protest, no demands that companies provide Canadians with goods and services widely available outside the country, and no pressure on retailers, producers and governments to remove technology logjams. (Toronto Star, March 15, 2009. A.15)
It’s true that Canadians were late to gain access to digital video recording (DVR) technology such as TiVo. When the iPhone came out, we watched with interest, but didn’t speak up.
Really, anyone might have felt silly “speaking up” for access to TiVo and the iPhone. We’d feel like kids at the grown-up store asking for toys. Citizen wanna watch more TV? Wanna play games on the phone-toy?
Well, this citizen wants access to “every book ever printed, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds” (Amazon). I want it on a non-blinding, comfortably large screen, and it should be light enough to carry with ease.
I know it’s more complex. I’m sure there are competing products by Sony. I’m sure Amazon has to convince a Canadian wireless provider that e-commerce is a good business idea. Maybe Canadian publishers are nervous about the transition?
Change is frightening, but that’s an inadequate reason to resist it. The Kindle is making more noise than its competitors because it is wireless, so access to literature of all kinds is unprecedented. It has the unique ability to provide a huge library for sale very cheaply everywhere within WiFi coverage. It’s not just a luxury item - not in the same way as a DVR or an iPhone. It’s a vehicle for literacy, for pleasure, yes, but also for education. The Kindle presents a big change - and it could provide immeasurable benefits
Am I really, really called to explain the benefits of literacy, to the individual and to society? This one is important. It’s not a DVR. We shouldn’t remain quietly patient. This is all books everywhere, available to anyone with a Kindle, or with access to a Kindle.
As Ken Coates writes,
This country needs a consumer revolution - loud, persistent and determined - in which companies and regulators are challenged to make Canada a creative force in digital media. (Toronto Star, March 15, 2009. A.15)
Canadians, rise up! The Kindle belongs in the Canadian market!
If you agree, sign our petition expressing your interest in and support for the Kindle DX in Canada. It’s a petition for Canadians, by Canadians. Grass-rootsy, and all that.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for the article. I share your thoughts and feelings about the Kindle, and I hope it comes to Canada soon! Just a point of clarification: the Kindle’s “Whispernet” is not WiFi. It utilizes Sprint’s cellular data network, which is far more widespread.
Hi, I agree that the kindle needs to be in Canada now. I also agree with the new reporter’s view that few Canadians have a clue about what is going on in the tech world. The majority of us get our latest on tech from the greeters at Best Buy. (I would fall under the tech fanatic category and I am always amazed at how little people know, the word Kindle generally draws blank stares from friends). *It might also be interesting to note that the kindle is most popular with older people, who are generally not the first to hear about new tech.
As an engineering student who pays easily more than $1500 a year on textbooks, paying even $500 one time for the Kindle DX would be a deal, provided the textbooks are about half the price of a hardcopy. I don’t even care if I didn’t have wireless internet access, just the cost savings and not having to carry around 5 books and a laptop would be enough.
It also has major implications for conservation of resources (the pulp used to make newspapers for example). If the New York Times gave every subscriber a free kindle DX its profit margins would still increase, and it would use less pulp (or so i have read).
I WANT DX!
The mere existence of this device and the conspicuous absence from the Canadian market, should be a clarion call to all citizens of the Great White North.
That our government regulatory body has seen fit to restrict this device, on what grounds I can’t imagine or accept, should be lance of psychic energy through the spine of any Canuck. We should be pounding on doors and asking why the greatest advance for literacy and environmental conservation is still beyond our grasp.
The Ottawa Whores should be beaten about the kidneys, with large saps, until they give in. I’m on the verge of writing a letter.
Excellent article, especially the part about the benefits of literacy and knowledge to the society. It is extremely frustrating to have such delays regarding educational devices such as the Kindle DX.
With numbers of Universities like MIT and Stanford making all their lectures available to everyone on YouTube. With the all the efforts recently made to make knowledge the more accessible for all individuals on the planet, I find it kinda innapropriate coming from Canada and Amazon too.
Hi,
Just wondering if i buy Kindle Dx online from amazoon, would i be able to use all functionalities of Kindle Dx?
I can tell you exactly why the Kindle DX isn’t in Canada. The Kindle’s wireless capabilities hinge on it’s 3G (w/ Edge fallback) connectivity. 3G/Edge is GSM cellular technology and there is only 1 GSM network in Canada. Rogers…
Rogers is why we don’t have the Kindle DX in Canada, they probably couldn’t handle the fact that people wouldn’t be paying a monthly fee to transfer Data over their network, so they told Amazon to *$(# off.
I like this string of comments, and agree with most of it - let me put in a plea from those of us with low-vision, who can access many printed materials if we wish to spend thousands on CCTV-enabled readers and sit at a desk to absorb text that most people read at will on public transit, at tbe beach, or in a cafe. The Kindle DX is widely admired by US consumers with low-vision and I, for one, am some PISSED OFF it isn’t for sale here in Canada. I’ve got books to read and I want access!
I suspect it is more than Rogers to blame for the lack of Kindle DX accessibility, but rather the ridiculous monoply on book distribution (Chapters/Indigo) in this country. After all if you were Heather Reisman would you want people to pay $9.99 for a book? Or get cheaper subscriptions to magazines/newspapers? Of course not. She is a huge political campaign donor, and is likely partly behind the slow access to this brilliant new technology.
At times like this it feels like we still live in the wilderness in this country…….
It might be some interest to our provincial and federal government to realize that this technology will liberate large percentile of our young student population. For many years I watch my wife work, teach, struggle and fight for the freedom of learning of our Dyslexic young minds, to give them the ability to access books as much as any other kid. This device with it text-to-speech technology might just do the trick. Of course it will require the government to support the wide spread of this ebook device and to resist the Author Guild legal dammed to block this technology in the fear of loosing livelihood of those who produce audio book for leaving. Please help us help our kids.
The kindle DX can not presently be used wirelessly in Canada but with a computer and the included usb connector u can download books and even periodicals (not as subscriptions but as single downloads).
Amazon will not ship the dx to canada but there are an abundance of shippers in the states who will recieve your order and forward it to you for a fee.
The web based registration process will record your Kindle and if or when you visit the us the kindle will affirm the registration details on the e-book