The Kindle is now $189. Fast work, Amazon. Nook's turn again

The Kindle 6" International pricing has been lowered to $189, not very long after the Nook announcements today.

  The 3G mobile free wireless full-web access that most countries are reporting  since the 15th, with no change by Amazon to that access for almost a week, seems to be a side effect of having the ability to send a highlighted passage and note to Facebook and Twitter via 3G wireless with the new software update v2.5.x, much discussed on the forums and described here.  See the Intro and Guide to the new software version.

Countries reporting no-cost full-web access are listed in a file associated with the story on June 15, and updated daily.

RECENTLY BOUGHT KINDLES AND PROBABLE CREDITS/REFUNDS
During past price changes, Amazon gave recent purchasers of the Kindle a credit or refund for the difference in price if the Kindle purchase was made within 30 days of the new, lower price.

U.S. Kindle owners should contact Customer Support about this at 1-866-321-8851.
Very recent purchasers outside the U.S. should go to the Amazon Kindle Support page and click on the orange button labeled "Contact Us" to ask about it..

See today's earlier blog article that included a good link to the Nook news that apparently had a big influence on Amazon, though I think they were prepared for this but did not care to be the first to adjust pricing to compete even more on price with the larger multi-function tablets.  I mentioned the differences in the feature sets for the Nook and the Kindle earlier today.  Pro's for the Nook - it does allow public library access, valuable if your local library carries much in the way of contemporary e-books (some don't).

  The lending feature of the Nook is not clearly described by news stories.  If a publisher approves the lending of a nook book (about 45% do), then you can lend an e-book to someone, but only One Time to Anyone in the lifetime of the e-book (ever), and for 2 weeks to the borrower but not renewable by the borrower even if the book couldn't be finished.

  See the blog article on sharing Kindle books on an account, not restricted to a household or relative, just to people you trust on your account.  It's far more flexible than the Nook arrangement but not heavily marketed.

  The new Kindle price is now a real value instead of just a value ;-)

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Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.