The Amazon Kindle

The All-New Kindle Fire (Kindle 4) has already enjoyed a 2-month launch in the US.  With sales already reaching an estimated 3 million, analysts are predicting that the Kindle Fire will be the iPad’s fiercest competitor.

So what is all the big fuss? For starters, the Kindle is already the World’s biggest selling e-book reader. Amazon shipped 5 million Kindles in the month of December 2011 alone. Amazon has also built a juggernaut of an online app store complete with movies and music on demand and games to rival Apple Inc’s iTunes. Customers of Kindle Fire will have access to these and over one million e-books (many for free and over 800,000 titles at $9.99 or less) in one seamless process.

Unlike the iPad which uses a back-lit screen, the Kindle Fire 7” screen multi-touch display utilises an in-plane switching technology and anti-reflective treatment giving hours of anti-glare viewing pleasure reminiscent of standard Kindles. The display is chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic, making it extra durable and resistant to accidental bumps and scrapes.

Now with 16 million colours, e-book fans can enjoy magazines, comics, text books, word documents and PDF’s in rich colour. The touchscreen allows browsing of e-books and apps at the flick of a finger.

Kindle Fire also integrates with Amazon Silk – a revolutionary, cloud accelerated browser that uses a “split browser” architecture to leverage the computing speed and the power of Amazon Web Services cloud. All that means is ultra-fast web browsing and downloads.

Need expanded memory? Never mind buying extra memory sticks – the Kindle Fire gives you access to free cloud storage for all Amazon digital content. That means your books, movies and music are all available to stream instantly or download for free, at the touch of your finger.

Email? Not a problem. Stay in touch with webmail (gmail, yahoo, Hotmail etc) in a single inbox. Import messages and contact list from other email accounts. Other email apps are also available from the Amazon app store.

So, what are the specs?

So how much is it? The Kindle Fire is sold in the US at a price of US$199. That is cheaper than an iPad and for a few extra dollars more from the standard Kindle, you can enjoy all the richness of colour.  There is no word yet of how much the local version will cost. If colour is not to your taste, you can still buy the popular standard Kindles as enjoyed by millions of e-book fans.  Make no mistake – the popularity of e-books is one of the prime reasons why large bookstores like Borders and Angus & Robertson have folded in the recent months. Now is the time to jump on board the digital e-book craze and find out why you no longer need all that expensive book shelf space. Travel much? You can take as many books with you as you can carry in one convenient little device.

Currently, the Kindle Fire is available for purchase to US residents only. To register your interest to purchase the local Kindle Fire, fill in your name and email address in the email submission box on the top right of this page.  Alternatively if you can’t wait for the local Kindle Fire, you can get the US version (or just buy a standard international Kindle). Follow the instructions below to get a US Fire but note! You may not get the full access to Amazon content such as movies. But if you still want one to please your friends, read the following carefully.

The step-by-step instructions to follow will show you how to get your Kindle Fire. But first let us explain why you must do it this way:

* Amazon will not ship the Kindle Fire to a non-US address.

* Amazon will not allow a non-US credit card to purchase a Kindle Fire.

So to address those issues, follow these steps (read carefully first, then follow to the tee):

1)  To bypass the non-US credit card issue, you must buy an Email Amazon Gift Card and email the card to
yourself. You are only buying the stored amount. Purchase the amount required for your Kindle Fire (US$199) plus enough for accessories such as covers and Amazon’s shipment costs (you can top up the card later). This is the link to buy the Email Amazon Gift Card.

2)  In the process of purchasing the card, make sure you set up your Amazon account (does not take too long).

3)  Go to Borderlinx.com and sign up. Borderlinx is a third party mail forwarder. Once you sign up at Borderlinx, you will get a virtual US address where your Kindle will be shipped to first. Borderlinx will then ship your Kindle Fire to your final destination address. This method tells Amazon that you have a US address thus qualifying you for the Kindle Fire purchase. Borderlinx is the cheapest (high quality) mail forwarder
we have found. They use DHL.

4)  Go straight to the Kindle Fire link and purchase your Kindle Fire. Don’t forget to purchase accessories such as covers to protect your Kindle Fire.

5)  Select “Add to cart” and add your Kindle accessories as you need. If you’re done, proceed to check out.

6)  During check out, you’ll be asked to enter payment method and shipping address. Choose “Pay by gift card” and enter your Borderlinx US address in the billing and shipping address.

7)  After your make a purchase, just wait for your Kindle to arrive at Borderlinx and they will send you a confirmation email. This will take about 7 days.

8) Relax and wait for your Kindle to arrive from Borderlinx at your address via DHL! Make sure you buy Express service for speedy delivery (it does not cost much more than Standard delivery but 3 times quicker).

All the best with your Kindle Fire purchase!

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