TQ reported earlier that popular e-commerce giant, Amazon, announced its very own virtual currency by the name of Amazon Coins. Now the company has made another move but the abrupt action has shocked Canadians. According to the latest reports Amazon is closing its newsstand in Canada. As a result of that readers in Canada have been unable to access lots of digital magazines and newspapers, which previously were available for purchase from Amazon.
The Globe and Mail stated that:
“The company introduced a “Canadian storefront” for its users late last month, trumpeting the arrival of a Canadian site as an opportunity for users in this country to shop in their own currency and read books written by Canadian authors. But the site lacks some key features users have come to expect—including the newsstand section that sold digitized copies of the New York Times, Globe and Mail and Toronto Star, as well as magazines such as Wired and The Atlantic.”
In the light of the aforementioned quote from the Globe and Mail it is anticipated that due to lack of some significant features Amazon decided to shut down its newsstand for Canadians. However, one thing is for sure: all “current subscriptions will be cancelled and refunded,” according to a spokesperson from Amazons’ Canadian public relations agency Sonic Boom Creative Media. But that spokesperson did not reveal any reasons behind the closure of Canadian newsstand from Amazon. As the Globe and Mail reported, the spokesperson failed to answer any questions related to the decision of closing down Canadian newsstand and whether the company would ever revive the service.
Amazon’s Canadian newsstand was a niche offering and according to TechVibes people in the country “paid far less for Kindle publication subscriptions than their printed, physically shipped counterparts.” Nevertheless, even if we leave all these things aside, one thing still seems pretty odd about this decision from Amazon. The company did not inform any of the publishers about this move beforehand.
With the closure of Amazon’s newsstand, Kobo Inc, a rival company, has got a chance to make the best of the opportunity, as it also has a digital newsstand. However, in contrast to the American company, Kobo offers month-long subscription instead of just offering single copies of publications.
Source: TechVibes, TheGlobeandMail
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