Have you heard that Amazon is shutting down the Kindle, but you want more clarification as to where and why? We’ll find everything you need here if you want to know whether you can still use the service.

Is Amazon Shutting Down The Kindle?

The overall answer to this question is no. Kindle will shut down only certain services. As one of the biggest publishers of books, Amazon won’t be shutting down the service.

However, that doesn’t mean it won’t be shutting down in certain areas. For example, Kindle will close its doors in China on June 30th, 2023, as it stopped selling its devices to distributors in 2022.

Many readers were left concerned about the service when Amazon stopped selling Kindle books on Android. However, we’ll go into more detail about that later in this article.

The only publishing they plan to stop is Amazon Publishing for Periodicals in September 2023. In addition to this, they have already stopped supporting the Kindle Store on older Kindle devices.

Why Is Amazon Closing Amazon Publishing For Periodicals?

During the company’s annual planning review, Amazon decides which features they should change to improve their business. However, that doesn’t mean that change will appear good to their customers. In this case, Amazon has decided to close its Publishing for Periodicals in September 2023.

Amazon Publishing for Periodicals is a magazine and newspaper subscription service on Amazon. Sometimes, it’s easier for customers to subscribe to their favorite magazines or newspapers through Kindle Unlimited. It is also a part of their key earnings, so closing this service could be a blow to the business.

Not all magazines are offered subscriptions through Kindle Unlimited. While books are typically written to be exclusive to Amazon and paid by pages read, the magazines are judged by active subscribers.

Kindle Unlimited readers can subscribe to magazines through the program, and publishers invited have to estimate their annual income and a contract.

This subscription service is seen as easier compared to subscribing via other methods. Buying an edition on Amazon is more affordable, and the dashboard has a great user interface. You can also optimize your view and break down the text so you can remove the images if you want to.

However, as Kindle Unlimited isn’t available in all countries, they may not make as significant a profit as they predicted when they opened the service. While many readers of periodicals will be left disappointed, it would have been better if it were available in more countries.

Why Can’t You Buy Books On The Kindle App?

You can’t buy books on the Kindle App store for iOS or Android, but iOS users are already familiar with this system. In 2022, Amazon stopped selling books in the Kindle App due to an update in policy by the Google Play Store.

Due to the policy changes, users could no longer buy, rent, or pay for their Kindle Unlimited system using the Kindle app.

Instead, users could only access their content in the app’s digital library. If they wanted to adjust their subscription to Kindle Unlimited or buy or rent new books, they would have to do so from their web browser.

This change was made because Google announced that all apps must use the Google Play billing system when charging for in-app purchases.

These in-app purchases include media content, subscription services, or upgraded free app versions. These changes were made in 2020, with companies and app developers given until June 2022 to comply with this change.

Using the Google Play Store billing system, Google takes a 15% cut of transactions. Previously, they would take a 30% cut from transactions.

Amazon can still use its Amazon Marketplace to sell physical objects, as Google will not take a cut from these, or peer-to-peer payments or gambling services.

Amazon was given a choice to continue using in-app purchases and give a cut to Google or remove the in-app purchases altogether. If they allowed in-app purchases on the Kindle App, they would have had to give Google their share, which at the time, was 30%.

Even with the 15% decrease in Google’s cut, they would have lost money by offering Google such a high percentage.

Instead, Amazon removed the in-app purchases and also removed their in-app purchases on Audible and Amazon Music. Likewise, they removed their features allowing digital purchases on their main Amazon app.

Apple had already informed all makers of e-readers to remove any links in their iOS apps that called for users to make purchases. So, the only way to purchase your books is by visiting the website or using your Kindle.

Why Is Kindle Shutting Down In China?

Amazon stopped selling Kindles in China in 2022, so it was only a matter of time before they announced they would close the Kindle store. On the Chinese social media site Weibo, Amazon announced that the Kindle store would close in June 2023.

They first started selling their Kindles in 2013, and it became one of their strongest markets. While less popular than planned, Amazon had a small, dedicated fandom towards their e-readers. However, this could only keep them afloat for so long.

There have already been attempts from U.S. tech giants to build a business in China, but they had to scale their presence back. The domestic competition was already intense, and China is known for having harsher censorship on the internet than the U.S. Due to this, Amazon had already closed its e-commerce marketplace in 2019.

The e-reader market is competitive in China and one that Kindle hasn’t managed to break into. Many Chinese users weren’t aware of the Kindle app, despite this being the primary market for e-reader applications on phones, as it was the best way to read novels. They also didn’t consider the online web novel one of China’s biggest markets.

Other factors meant that Kindle didn’t have the same capabilities as domestic Chinese e-readers. They focused more on hardware than software, so Chinese readers weren’t as interested as they were with domestic producers, as they could also use social media and access more works that weren’t available on the Kindle store.

Can You Access The Kindle Store On Older Devices?

Another reason Kindle fans were concerned that Amazon was shutting down Kindle was that, in August 2022, Kindle stopped supporting their older devices.

As Kindles are their main e-readers, they were designed to integrate with the Kindle store. However, you can’t access the Kindle Store for older Kindle devices, especially for older models that don’t have touchscreen displays.

These Kindles include 2nd Gen, DX, Kindle Keyboard, 4th Gen, and 5th Gen devices. However, if you still want to buy books on Kindle, you can buy a new book on the Amazon website and then send it to your library.

Final Thoughts

Generally, the Kindle is still one of Amazon’s most vital products, so it is unlikely to be rendered obsolete anytime soon. While they may remove the Kindle Store from specific devices, they usually decide after reviewing their annual plan.

Likewise, if it is removed from a different country, it can be assumed that Kindle wasn’t making the maximum income it desired.