Kindle Fire: Waiting for Amazon to "Friend" customers with non-U.S. IP addresses

Since its U.S. launch on November 14, 2011, Amazon's Kindle Fire has certainly made the tablet computer market a much more interesting space. Finally, consumers (at least, those who reside in the states) now have choices that are not limited between the expensive iPad and high-end Android slates and the low-cost, jocular excuses for a tablet computer.

Amazon's Kindle Fire is one exciting tablet computer. Local consumers, however, better wait for Amazon to resolve its geographical limits.

The Kindle Fire makes no pretensions as far as its list of features and capabilities is concerned. This doesn't mean, however, that it is a stingy and underperforming, underwhelming piece of high-tech tool-cum-toy.

No, sirs, it is one highly capable, value-for-money gadget. But what makes it truly an exciting device, one that most consumers would find worth their time and money, is how much support it gets from Amazon's corporate muscle and online markets.

Kindle Fire owners can buy, download, borrow, and store books, movies, games, and music files from Amazon's online retail operations. They can also use their tablet computers to purchase Amazon merchandises online.

Local consumers need to wait for a little while before they get to enjoy the Kindle Fire in all its glory.

Now, here is what stinks, at least, for Kindle Fire fans who do not reside in the United States. Most of these Amazon-centric features, including online purchasing and book lending, do not work outside the American borders. Once Amazon's computers sense a Kindle Fire is using a non-U.S. IP address, that particular tablet is refused entry into most of the Amazon ecology.

Buying a Kindle Fire, even for non-U.S. residents, is easy. Enjoying all its features and capabilities from outside the country is something else.

Seems non-American consumers have no choice but to wait for Amazon to address and resolve this geographical limitation of its bestselling slate before they should dream of owning one.

Or they can opt for the Nook from Barnes & Noble instead.