Does Anyone Know Why Amazon Kindle Fire Tablets Are Not Available in Australia?

johninmelb on 15/10/2020 - 15:01

Just curious as to why Amazon Australia do not sell them, and not been able to google a definitive answer.

I have just got a friend in the UK to buy me a Kindle Fire 8 tablet as they were half price (45 pounds - $A82) in the UK Prime Day sale. Delivery date is not till late November due to overwhelming numbers of people buying them at that price. So I would not expect to get it till early next year depending on UK post office and then the Aust Post delivery debacle going on here. If anyone knows a better way of shipping from UK to Oz, I'd be happy to hear it.

Electrical & Electronics Amazon eBook Reader Tablet

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Comments

  • scrimshaw on 15/10/2020 - 15:39
    +2

    The tablets are heavily subsidised by things like ads, app store purchases, and even Amazon store promotions that show up in Amazon's android ecosystem, basically with every tablet they sell it's a way of making sure that whoever uses that tablet sees more of Amazon's eBook / Prime Video / Music products and essentially lock them into their Prime sub.

    Comparatively speaking, our US friends pay more for Prime than we do. It's USD $12.99 in Amazon USA, but only $6.99 AUD @ Amazon AU

    Since Amazon isn't really big enough in Australia yet and they have a smaller market share they probably don't think it's worth the expense of bringing it here. That said we still have Amazon Kindles and Fire Sticks.

    Perhaps the Aussie market just isn't really into cheap android tablets, and Amazon knows that through data.

    • johninmelb on 15/10/2020 - 19:58

      I don't have a Prime subscription so none of those things will bother me, and I am fully aware of the limitations of this device, but I am not buying it for computing uses as such.

      I have bought the Fire with "Special Offers" but my UK friend tells me that the ads only appear on the screen saver, not during actual usage. Before he sends it on to me, he is going to sideload Google Play Store on to it as well for me. He has done that with his own.

      I am mostly only going to use it as a alternative Kindle Reader as I have loads of PDF stuff, and other ebooks, so the colour screen will make a difference. Also have a Google Play app which will synchonise with my genealogy program on my laptop, so when I am out and about, I can have a copy of my family history database on the Fire. Easier to read than on my phone, and more portable than my laptop.

  • [Deactivated] on 15/10/2020 - 16:12

    The early history had some reasons to do with certification for mobile sim access….and Amazon Australia didn't exist.

  • jackinyourbox on 15/10/2020 - 17:51

    Australia is a small market

  • AustriaBargain on 15/10/2020 - 19:30

    Also want to know where you can't buy a Firestick 4k or any other Firestick than the new Lite in Australia. Just aren't available at all. I understand Amazon have new versions coming out but kinda silly to go months at a time with nothing at all available. I needed some as a video signage device and well just can't buy them in 4k for love or money in Australia. Probably should look at raspberry pi anyway.

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