Amazon Delays UK Kindle Launch

Licensing laws mean that Amazon won't be able to launch its highly successful Kindle reader in the UK before Christmas.

If you live in the UK and you’ve been hoping to receive Amazon’s Kindle e-reader for Christmas, think again. The company has been forced to delay its launch and it won’t be available by then.

And it’s all due to the licensing of mobile access and roaming.

Brian McBride, Amazon’s UK managing director, told Bookseller:

"If you need agreement with carriers in the US, there is one carrier. In Europe it is a minefield, as there are so many operators,

"If you buy a Kindle in the UK and want to read it on the beach on holiday, unless we have signed deals in Spain [for example] it is not going to work on the beach.

"It has launched in the US and we will let them handle any technical wrinkles before we bring it over here."

It’s a blow Amazon won’t want, as Sony’s competing e-reader is already on sale.