Activating a new US-purchased Kindle Wifi Only in Italy
Replies: 6 - Last Post: Dec 9, 2012 5:52 PM Last Post By: yofletch
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Activating a new US-purchased Kindle Wifi Only in Italy
I have purchased, in the US, a new Paperwhite WiFi-only Kindle and I am sending it as a gift to my son's girlfried in Italy (she's American and is spending another six months in Florence studying). I know that a US Kindle will work abroad, and have access to US titles, if a US address and US credit card are used. So that's not a problem. I just got to wondering if it's going to be a problem when she opens up the box there and when starting up and registering the Kindle online if she will have a problem since I'm sure Amazon will detect the IP address is in Italy. Hopefully she will simply select which language and country and be fine, but I don't know. Maybe the Kindles sold in the US already assume it's a US user.Anyone know for sure?
Thanks.
1
I can't give you a definitive answer, but I just checked the fine print on my Amazon kindle acct here in France (ie, amazon.fr). I have the option of transferring this acct to amazon.com, buying from the US site, paying in U$ instead of €s.Also, Amazon advertises that you can download titles onto your kindle 'from anywhere'. This obviously targets travellers, wherever they may be.
Finally, amazon.fr has a 'kindle ebook in english and other non-french language' section. I imagine amazon.it has the same.
Can't imagine your son's girlfriend will have a problem. (Although Amazon, like the other tech mammouths, can be real jerks sometimes. None of us are safe from their anti-competitive moodswings).
4
I had a similar problem with a Kindle bought in the UK and first used in SE Asia.Although my Amazon Account was in UK the Kindle Store when accessed the first time through the device was amazon.com (US). Maybe I missed a step, I'm not sure. I obviously didn't want to buy items this way so I made my initial purchases via a computer and they downloaded to the Kindle via Wi-Fi in the normal manner.
I was also able to contact the Kindle Help Desk and they were able to reassign the device, so that now it goes to the UK Store, but I still prefer to make my purchases on a normal PC rather than on the device itself.
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I still prefer to make my purchases on a normal PC rather than on the device itself
I agree wholeheartedly with this. Amazon has developed a wicked reputation for nosing around on people's kindles without being asked. They can only do this if wifi on the kindle is on (I assume this to be true. Otherwise we should all just get it over with and welcome our new Gadget Overlords).

