Amazon Explains the Kindle's £89 Price Tag

UK customers will, not surprisingly, be paying more than their friends across the pond for the new Kindle.

Here in the UK, we're used to getting cheated when it comes to pricing. Too often, companies swap in a pound sign for the dollar sign and call it day. Either that, or they lop off a small amount and call the price local. Today, Amazon announced some uber cheap Kindles. However, it seems while folks in the U.S. will be paying $79 for the cheapest model, we'll be paying £89. Oddly enough, Amazon actually has a reason for this inflated price.

What many people haven't realised, is that the $79 price tag in the U.S. is for the ad-supported Kindle, or Kindle with Special Offers as Amazon likes to call it. This is probably Amazon's fault, as it wasn't immediate clear from the press conference that the $79 price tag (and, indeed, the $99 and $149 price tags afforded to the Kindle Touch and Touch 3G) is actually for the ad-supported Kindle. The ads in questions are pretty unimposing and appear as simple screensavers when the device is not in use, but they are there. A Kindle sans ads will cost you $109 (or $139 and $189 for the Touch models).

Amazon says this inflated £89 (equating to $139 by today's rates) price tag exists because operating costs in the UK are higher, and the ad-supported Kindle won't actually be available in the UK.

"Operating costs differ by country, but as with all products on Amazon, we work hard to offer customers the lowest possible prices," a spokesperson told TechRadar. "Regarding pricing, I would also like to clarify that the $79 Kindle includes special offers in the US...Special offers are not currently available in the UK."

We somehow doubt that will make customers feel any better about paying the same money as those getting a Kindle Touch WiFi (sans ads) for the entry-level Kindle ereader. Amazon has yet to announce pricing for the UK Kindle Touch WiFi and Kindle Touch 3G.