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Already the Nook is having a major effect on the Ebook Reader market.

People who had ordered International Kindles have been getting the following Email…

Hello,

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.

We’ll also send you a follow-up e-mail to confirm the refund once it has been completed.

We hope you enjoy your new Kindle. Please send us your feedback at: Kindle-feedback@amazon.com

Sincerely,

The Kindle Team

FANTASTIC! Often people are getting the refund BEFORE they get the device according to reports. On top of that, in some countries limited web surfing has been unlocked on the device, meaning you can get to Wikipedia and that is about it, but it’s a start.

However, one word in the email caught me…CONSOLIDATING.

Going to the Amazon site, there is no more reference to the US-only version of the Kindle. It is just GONE. Maybe this is just because I am not in the US, but it wasn’t true a couple weeks ago and I am looking at the US site, without signing into my account. When the international version was announced, I had three Kindles available for order; US, US and International, and DX…now?

It appears that the US-Only Kindle has been consolidated right out of existence. US residents, can you still buy a US only version of the Kindle? If not, then it is a smart move by Amazon since having two models, one that just couldn’t use wireless outside the US struck me as silly. Why make so many warehouse and supply chain headaches for yourself when there can’t be any added cost to put the same antenna in all models. However it does makes them look a bit desperate to drop the US model just a couple weeks after the big roll out. Clearly a reactive measure against the Nook, and that is just fine with me. I bet we will be seeing discounts on Kindles worldwide come the end of November, when the Nook is supposed to begin shipping.

CONFIRMATION…The US site now says this…

A Newer Kindle is Now Available

Due to strong customer demand for the newest Kindle, we are consolidating our family of 6" Kindles. The new Kindle has 3G wireless that works in the United States and also globally in over 100 countries. We will continue to fully support Whispernet for all U.S.-only Kindles. You can buy used and refurbished versions of the U.S.-only Kindle on this page.

I call first!

I love the smell of competition in the morning. Smells like…victory.