Amazon Axe US-Only Kindle, International Kindle Now $259

Amazon have rejigged their Kindle range, seemingly discontinuing the previous US-only Kindle 2 and reducing the price of the international version to $259.  Presumably acting in response to the recently announced Barnes and Noble nook, which is also priced at $259, Amazon have been informing international Kindle buyers that they'll get a $20 refund

"Good news! Due to strong customer demand for our newest Kindle with U.S. and international wireless, we are consolidating our family of 6" Kindles. As part of this consolidation, we are lowering the price of the Kindle you just purchased from $279 down to $259. You don't need to do anything to get the lower price–we are automatically issuing you a $20 refund. This refund should be processed in the next few days and will appear as a credit on your next billing statement." Amazon email to Kindle customers

Meanwhile Wired have been playing with the new international Kindle, and as we highlighted at its launch they've been a little disappointed with the US-centric accessories, such as the power adapter with US pins.  They've also suffered mediocre wireless speeds; a 4.4mb ebook took several minutes to download.

However, on the plus side there's Wikipedia access from the "experimental" browser, a surprise given that Amazon had said that international Kindles wouldn't have any browser functionality outside of the US.  That at least saves you $99 for a WikiReader.  We're yet to see an international version of the Kindle DX, but Amazon have confirmed that one is in the pipeline.

[via Engadget]