The Guardian and Observer Kindle edition is now available

why US per issue cheaper than UK?! $0.75 compared £0.99?

Seems quite expensive, £5 a month might be more like it.

UK: £9.99/month, £0.99/issue US: $9.99/month, $0.75/issue

No no no no! Why the unfair pricing, Guardian?

I would have been interested at a fairer price: the iphone app is only £4 a year (and the Android one 'free'). And you don't even have the development cost to worry about.

I'm not saying it should be that cheap, but even £4 a month would be tempting.

Missed opportunity.

barbaragunnell, alphanash

Marketing. Trying to expand US readership I imagine, or compete with US subscription prices (at a guess).

I imagine iPad subscription prices will be similar. For me it might be a hard ask when guardian.co.uk is already so excellent.

99p for the Kindle edition? I was prepared to pay but not 99p. You might get a bigger uptake by offering an app at a one-off price with regular (paid) upgrades. But not 99p a go.

Why more expensive for the rest of the world? Is it because of postage & packaging?

Thanks for the questions about pricing.

We work with Amazon who set the pricing based on market and regional differences.

@juanV haha!

@kirstenbroomhall

couldn't you have told amazon that no one was going to rush to pay same as UK print version in £ while it costs about 50p in dollars?

God, enough with the complaints! How many of you have actually tried the service? So how do you know what it is worth then? I spent the weekend playing around with another free version of the Guardian on Kindle and found it a really good way to read things. I'm hoping that the official version will be even better.

So I'm giving a shot, try out the 14 day free trial and then pass judgement.

Of course, if they did drop the price I wouldn't complain...

I'll give the Kindle version a go, although I find that by the evening the content is out of date - a big weakness of the Times app. The Guardian iPhone app cleverly gets round that.

Hoping to see an iPad version of the iPhone app soon - the rolling breaking news coverage is fantastic.

And if you subscribe to the paper? Is this extra cost for the same thing in a different format?

I wanted to purchase it to read on my Macbook air using the Kindle app. I have bought and read lots of books like this. But it doesn't look as though the website will deliver it to my mac, only my Kindle. I am not going to carry the kindle around just for this. Ah well. I can still visit the website for free.

The difference in price between the UK & US prices is fairly simply explained.

In the UK the Government sees fit to charge VAT on e-books and e-newspapers but not on the printed versions. I believe they're categorised as 'electronic guides'.

The US Government, of course, takes a more enlightened view than our own Luddites at Westminster and doesn't charge sales tax.

You'll find that pretty much all kindle content is cheaper on the Amazon US site rather than the UK version.

@noelsagan

double the price? on acct of VAT? hmm

@Tiffin1

The edition is only available on the Kindle, not Kindle apps.

Isn't £9.99 for a monthly subscription the equivalent of around 35p per edition? It may not compare favourably with the US pricing, but it certainly does with the print edition available in the UK.

The 99p per issue is a one-off price for those who choose not to subscribe, but may occasionally still want to buy the paper, right? In which case, they can figure out whether the price means it's worth their time to get out of their pyjamas and head to the local newsagents instead.

Or am I being thick? It wouldn't be the first time.

You'll find that pretty much all kindle content is cheaper on the Amazon US site rather than the UK version.

Not true. Just as many books are cheaper on the UK site, primarily because the US site uses agency pricing.

£9.99 - £120 a year?
Jeez, I'm just gonna point my experimental kindle browser at m.guardian.co.uk - you know, like I've been doing ever since I got it.

Per subscription pricing would be better than individual pricing for iPhone, Kindle and iPad platforms. i.e. £10 a month gets you access to all digital editions for all your devices.

Great to see this on the cards but why can't you allow Kindle download on iPad at leat until the full app is available. The cost viaAmazon is a bit higher than experience ted.

I am really disappointed however at t length of time we are enduring - you touted an iPad app back in January.

I have asked questions two times over the last couple of months regardingnitsxappearancecand would happily pay to be a beta tester, the longer you dlay and the more difficult you make it to access good the mote likely loyal readers will find other methods of getting their daily news fix!

The Kindle edition doesn't seem to be available on the German Amazon store. Are there plans to release it there?

@KirstenBroomhall: You might want to tell my Android that, as it's quite happily downloaded today's edition via the Kindle app. It looks good on the smaller, colour, too.

@Ipwood: Given both Apple and Amazon want a slice, it's hardly surprising that there aren't multi-channel subscriptions. The Economist - well ahead of Gruniad in this area - hasn't managed to come up with a solution..

Personally, I'd have doubts about subscribing if I could only access via my Kindle device; I almost always have my Android, but the same isn't true of my Kindle device. If you set about disabling access on other devices you will be reducing the attraction of the Kindle edition.

Also noted a lack of cartoons: is this going to be addressed, or have you decided to omit them? If the latter, I'd refer you to the response the Guardian got over Doonesbury not so long ago!

That - serious - issue aside, it's a decent launch. As someone who buys the Guardian & Observer a minum of 12 times a month, the pricing is persuasive - provided I can choose what devices I use.

@KirstenBroomhall

The edition is only available on the Kindle, not Kindle apps.

Amazon let me download it to the Kindle App on my android phone.

As a regular Guardian reader often in print and every day on the iPhone App, I'm really pleased to hear that the iPad version of The Guardian is on the way at last.

I've been waiting patiently for a while now and will certainly be buying a subscription!

Just wondering if you are looking for any more beta testers of the iPad App - if so, I'm very keen to join in!!

"Thanks for the questions about pricing.

We work with Amazon who set the pricing based on market and regional differences"

Hmm, pay twice as much as the Yanks for a UK based publication,when it's free on mobile guardian anyway? Let's see...........................................
..........
..........

Nope....

Why does a digitally delivered, digital item cost more in the UK and RoW than the US?

the difference between 10 dollars and 10 pounds is more than VAT.
However, compared to buying the paper daily (or the subscription cost £27) this sounds good value.
But Kindle doesn't do colour - maybe ipad will be a better option. Or just read what you like for free online as I am doing now.

Handy on holiday as can get the full edition, but can't see me subscribing as its not as nice as reading the real thing. Why this fixation on getting you every day, why not the same low price every day to get those i readers back?

I tried to download it, but it says it's only for UK users. I'm in the US. Why?!?!?!

Surely a cheaper version for existing subscribers to the paper would make sense?

How about a subscription to The Guardian - in whatever format it's available in? I have both Kindle and iPad and buy the paper daily. I can see pros and cons for each format at divers t times and places.

Or how about being able to buy a single copy - just like a newspaper?

Firstly, good on the Guardian for releasing a Kindle Version, whereas other newspapers have promised but never delivered. This is certainly something I'm looking for and I'll give it a go. Yes, the price could be a tad cheaper but 99p isn't going to break the bank either.

I just got back from Stockholm and found it a massive bonus to be able to buy a decent English paper at a decent price over a free 3g connection. In these days of changing technology we can make the mistake of drifting from the time old principles of problem - solution to a model of 'what can we do', I say this definitely a solution to a whole host of problems, newspaper purchase abroad only being one of them. Reading a paper on the tube, off the top of my head, is up there too.

The only issue is the crossword, takes ages to wipe the pen marks off the screen

For those asking about combined subscriptions, the Guardian and Observer Kindle edition is separate, and will not be part of the newspaper digital edition subscription or subscription to the newspaper itself.

@ssjgr01
You can buy single issues of the Kindle edition or pay for a monthly subscription.

Great to see this on the cards but why can't you allow Kindle download on iPad at leat until the full app is available. The cost viaAmazon is a bit higher than I would have anticipated.

I am really disappointed however at the length of time we are enduring - you touted an iPad app back in January!

I have asked questions two times over the last couple of months regarding its appearance and would happily pay to be a beta tester, the longer you delay and the more difficult you make it to access it the more likely loyal readers will find other methods of getting their daily news fix!

How can I beta test this ! Currently o. Holiday and having to endure the Times !

We should be thankful. The Mail promised an Android App a year ago!

@MTPT and @ParkyDR

My apologies, you can indeed access Guardian and Observer editions through the Kindle for Android app.

You can also access Guardian and Observer editions through KindleForPC on a Windows PC too.

Ok, I take that back you can download it but not read it.

Will it carry the crosswords?

Great news about a Kindle version, however I cannot even evaluate it (nor buy a sub) from Amazon UK as I live in the Netherlands. And the American edition of Amazon doesn't offer it.

Brilliant.

More objective and focused upon the issues than the Today programme, and without the shouting and the message of ignorance for the day.

@Dr3Daemon
Price is something you don't need to try a product to decide on, if we think that its too expensive for us then it is.

Was reading today's guardian on my kindle today. Really nice job, and am happy to recommend it to people!

As a Sydney-based Pom, very pleased to see Guardian on Kindle. Apparently not available yet; when is it launched on Kindle.com ? Also, price is less than The Independent, so happy about that. Please ensure that, unlike Independent, you remember to include Sudoku. ;)

Get real you lot! Before the 'free' mentality of the internet caused everybody to believe they had a God-given right not to pay for anything, if you wanted to read a newspaper - surprise, surprise - you had to PAY for it! Do you think that the people who compile the paper - the journalists and editors, etc all work for nothing?! Does the company you work for (if you are in the private sector) give away its products for nothing and if so, where do they get the money from to pay you??

The Kindle subscription is EXCELLENT value for money - a lot cheaper than the cost of the printed paper - about 25% in fact, compared to the daily dead tree price over a month. It is exactly the same as The Times and Telegraph (and rated far higher by the subscribers on Amazon, because the Guardian seems to have done an excellent job on it) and significantly cheaper by 4 pounds than The Independent which is 13.99 - so what's the problem?

Stop whinging and cough up if you want to be able to read the Guardian in 2 years time - charging for products and services is what is known as "running a business .....!!!!"

As an additional interesting point, you may care to read this ....

http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/guardian-future/

I was wondering if one could also get a sub for just the Observer, as a cheaper option?