Kindle comes to India: Should I buy it?

I am seriously tempted to buy it….

As soon as I read the press release that Amazon has slashed Kindle rates and now is offered globally across countries – My first reaction: Is it available in India?

Yes, it is very much available in India and you can even pre-order it through Amazon now – Buy Kindle  (Kindle with U.S. & International Wireless will be available for shipment to customers in over 100 countries around the world on October 19.)

But before you click on that link, remember there are many questions yet to be answered for Indian Kindle consumers.

Here is what Amazon tells its Indian consumers interested in buying Kindle.

Important Product Information for Your Country

• Your international shipment is subject to customs duties, import taxes and other fees levied by the destination country. We will show you these fees upon checkout.
• Kindle ships with a U.S. power adapter and a micro-USB cable for charging your Kindle via a computer USB port. The U.S. power adapter supports voltages between 100V – 240V.
• You can transfer personal documents to your Kindle via USB for free at anytime. Service fees for transferring personal documents via Whispernet are currently $.99 per megabyte.
• Wireless download times can vary based on 3G or EDGE/GPRS coverage, signal strength and file size.
• Kindle books, newspapers, and magazine are currently priced and sold in United States dollars
• Blogs and the experimental web browser are currently not available for your country
• Kindle includes a 1-year limited warranty.
• Use of the Kindle is subject to the Kindle License Agreement and Terms of Use

So the first thing is that Kindle is not going to cost you just $259 (approx. 12.5k rupees) – There is a custom duty of close to 40% (I assume so..) which is levied on all imported electronics & computer items. So, the Kindle with Custom duty comes close to Rs. 17000/- roughly. Alternatively, you can bribe the custom guy for Rs.1000 :)

So after you have procured the gadget, now what. The new Kindle works on 3G with AT&T worldwide, we dont have that and will have to probably wait for Kindle partnership with various providers. But wait, do we even have 3G as yet ! so that particular feature is useless atleast for now. yes, it does have wireless/ GPRS/ EDGE connectivity – so you can download you stuff via these available methods.

And, other small aspect is that you dont have to worry about US-India Voltage difference, Kindle supports 100-240V…sweet.

But once you have it, there are host of Kindle features you can drool on:

• Slim and Trim: At just over a third of an inch thin (0.36 inches) and weighing just over 10 ounces, Kindle is pencil thin and lighter than a typical paperback.
• Reads Like Real Paper: Kindle’s 6-inch electronic ink display reads like printed words on paper because the screen works using real ink and doesn’t use a backlight, eliminating the eyestrain and glare associated with other electronic displays.
• Stores Up To 1,500 Books: Kindle’s 2 GB of memory holds up to 1,500 books and Kindle books are automatically backed up by Amazon so customers can re-download titles from their library.
• Read For Weeks On A Single Charge: Kindle’s electronic ink display sips battery power so users can read for over two weeks with wireless turned off and up to four days on a single charge with wireless on.
• Read-To-Me: With the experimental Text-To-Speech feature, Kindle can read most newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud.
• Automatically Syncs With Kindle and Kindle Compatible Devices: Amazon’s “Whispersync” technology automatically syncs customers’ last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across Kindle with U.S. & International Wireless, Kindle with U.S. Wireless, Kindle DX, and Kindle compatible devices like Kindle for iPhone.
• Wirelessly Receive and Read Personal Documents: Wirelessly send, receive, and read personal documents in a variety of formats such as Microsoft Word and PDF.
• Instant Dictionary Lookup: Kindle comes with the New Oxford American Dictionary and over 250,000 definitions that appear instantly at the bottom of the page.
• Choose Text Size: Kindle lets readers customize their reading preference by providing six different text sizes.
• Bookmarks, Notes, and Highlights: By using the QWERTY keyboard Kindle users can add annotations to text, as well as highlight and clip key passages and bookmark pages for future use.

Just WoW !

So what should I do? buy it ? Any Indian readers who have already placed pre-orders? or any feedback from existing Kindle owners?