Was the Kindle DX ever out of stock?
Since last week the new Kindle’s Amazon product page has been stoking the flames of gadgeteer anxiety with messages claiming that freshly placed orders would ship within 7 to 10 days. New orders placed yesterday, June 9, showed a delivery date of June 16 (June 15 with one-day shipping). Naturally, Amazon exposed itself to various forms of criticism, most notably:
- customer frustration that the company seemed not to have learned from the recurring stock-out problems that delayed Kindle 1 shipments from November 2007 to April 2008 and again from November 2008 to the launch of the Kindle 2 in February 2009; and
- suspicions that Amazon was purposely raising the specter of a Kindle DX stock-out problem to gin up sales of the new model, and get as many orders as possible in the pipeline before the announcement of the iPhone 3G S and the intriguing Iceberg Reader app for the iPhone and the iPod Touch this week.
Whatever the underlying problems or motivations, Amazon now appears to have solved the problem before it even begins shipping the Kindle DX today.
Three additional tips, while you are at it:
- Don’t forget to order the Amazon Kindle DX Leather Cover while you are at it. The new Kindle is too large, ungainly, and vulnerable to use without a cover, and unlike the Kindle 1 the cover is not included.
- I’m not recommending the $109 Kindle DX two-year warranty, but you should be aware, if you want it, that it must be ordered within 30 days of your new Kindle DX ship date.
- Finally, don’t mistake I made on my original Kindle DX order. Amazon will let you set up a Kindle DX order using your bank account (as opposed to a credit card), but then will unceremoniously cancel your order a few days (or now, perhaps, a few hours) later without any useful communication, customer service assistance, or opportunity to change your payment method. I’m guessing they’ve probably thrown out about a half a million dollars worth of Kindle DX orders with this snafu, but what’s a half a million dollars?
Update: Just to verify one other thing. Kindle DX orders placed this morning with one-day shipping are indeed now showing a delivery date of June 11.