Fig Kindle Scribe Colorsoft Still Not Shipping Anytime Soon

Something weird is going on with the release of the new Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, particularly the version that comes in the fig color (some say it’s purple, some say it’s red; whatever color it is it’s “fig”).

Amazon seems to be having production problems or shipping problems—someting has to be going on when you consider the fact that Amazon announced the new fleet of Kindle Scribes just shy of 6 months ago!

Amazon made a big show of the new Kindle Scribe lineup, among other new products, at a hardware event in New York last September, but they neglected to announce a release date for the Scribes, unlike most of the other products they demoed that day.

They finally ended up releasing the new black and white Kindle Scribe with a frontlight and the graphite-colored Kindle Scribe Colorsoft on December 10th, but they did so without a pre-order period, which is rather unusual for new Kindles, and the shipping dates were quickly several weeks out.

Amazon didn’t start accepting orders for the fig-colored Kindle Scribe until January 28th, and then however many they had (which couldn’t have been more than a couple thousand units) sold out in a few days. After that the shipping date was listed as April 13 – May 13.

Fast-forward 6 weeks and the shipping date for the fig Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is now sitting at April 12 – May 18, so basically it’s remained unchanged. That’s a weird way to release a new product, especially one that was announced almost half a year ago.

Something must’ve gone wrong along the way for things to be where they are now. What’s even worse, the new Kindle Scribe without a frontlight still hasn’t been released at all, and it doesn’t even have an expected release date yet. Something is fishy about the whole situation. This is the kind of new product rollout that you’d expect from some startup company on Kickstarter.

On the positive side, at least the new frontlit Kindle Scribe and graphite Kindle Scribe Colorsoft have reasonable shipping dates now, just a few days out in most cases. But Amazon is still dragging their heels on releasing them internationally. I’ve never seen a new Kindle rollout take this long. Did I mention it’s been 6 months since they were announced?