Kindle Paperwhite in massive shortage

Amazon's new Paperwhite Kindle is in very short supply in the US, with units purchased from the website now not shipping until late December.

The Paperwhite Kindle includes a feature that E Ink e-reader fans have been anticipating for a while now: a built-in front light that will allow readers low-light legibility without the need for an external gadget.

The device's popularity has not been helped by a number of issues that are keeping stock numbers low. The Paperwhite, announced in early September and due to ship on 1 October, had supply issues crop up in late September, with shipment delays announced only a day after the units started shipping. Rumours circulated that there were issues in the supply and labour chain.

Now, US customers are going to have to wait even longer for the device. A notification on the Paperwhite page states that the device will not be shipping until 21 December — and that there is a limit of two units per customer.

The situation isn't quite as dire in the UK, where the Paperwhite was launched in late October. There, the e-reader will ship on 14 December.

This has obvious implications for US buyers — that is, there is no guarantee that a Kindle Paperwhite will arrive in time for a Christmas gift — but it also doesn't bode well for us here in Australia, where we had an estimated arrival of early next year. Now that seems unlikely.

On the bright side, we were definitely not expecting it before Christmas.