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No deal

June 29, 2009

The Kindle was supposed to go on sale across Europe in the first half of this year, but Germany is going to have to wait.

An Amazon Kindle
The Amazon Kindle is in its 3rd model in the USImage: picture-alliance / dpa

The Amazon Kindle won't be released in Germany because of a disagreement over connection fees, according to a German business weekly.

The Wirtschaftswoche magazine reports that Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has been unable to strike a deal with the main wireless companies in Germany, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

They want to charge more money for access to their networks than Amazon is willing to accept.

The wireless connection is vital for Amazon's electronic book-device because it downloads its content from the Internet.

The gadget, which lets you download everything from books to magazines to newspaper subscriptions, is a big hit in the United States, where a third generation model is already available.

A competing product, the Sony Reader, arrived in Germany three months ago, but is a little less convenient because users must connect it to the internet via a computer every time they want new content.

nw/dpa
Editor: Andy Valvur

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