Lo and behold, folks who pre-ordered the international Kindle got an email from Amazon letting them know that "due to strong customer demand," the company has decided to drop the price of the worldwide Kindle to $259 to match the U.S. version. Those who pre-ordered will automatically get a $20 refund credited to their Amazon accounts.
Amazon referred to it as "consolidating our family of 6" Kindles," and it does certainly simplify things. It also marks one of those rare moments as a consumer to receive a spontaneous bit of good news -- good news you can take all the way to the bank.
The device started shipping October 19, and as tech journalists start to get their hands on the international Kindle they've noted it oddly ships with a U.S. plug, has relatively slow 3G service, and curiously allows you to web browse to Wikipedia and only Wikipedia (and only the English version, at that).