If America refused to allow Toyota cars in America, Americans (American consumers in particular) would be the losers. Limiting Kindles to English language books will slow sales of Kindles, but it will also slow sales of non-English books. Publishers win when they increase distribution outlets.
Besides, it is not at all clear that Kindle, which is a "closed system", will continue to lead electronic books sales after the browser becomes common on wireless table computing devices. Tablets with web browsers will be tablets for the masses. The masses will buy many more books than the relatively few who are willing to shell out significant dollars for a dedicated book reading tablet.
Amazon's saving grace will be that it will soon sell more electronic books through Kindle apps on non-Kindle-dedicated-devices than it will through Kindle devices. It remains to be seen how many of these books will be written in French.
"So far, the French and other European publishers have refused to sign digital book deals with Amazon, and Kindles sold outside the United States will offer only English-language books."
- Media Cache - France Moves to Win Back Control of Content - NYTimes.com (view on Google Sidewiki)
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