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Thursday, July 29, 2010

Tech / Books Kindle Price Cuts Keep Coming

Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 1:08 PM

Slog is probably the last place on the internet to run the news: Amazon has announced two new Kindles. Both are smaller and slimmer. One has 3G and one is wifi-only. The 3G model is $189, but the wifi model is $139, making it (I believe) the cheapest model of e-reader with internet access available. (For more information about the Kindle, you can find the ~~press release~~ story in the New York Times.)

Commenters on tech blogs have been saying for a while now that the price necessary for mass-market dominance of e-readers is $99. I agree that an e-reader for the price of four hardcovers would be a pretty hard deal for many to pass up (especially if you got four books with purchase of the e-reader) but this feels pretty damn close to a magic number to me. They can't make the Kindle much slimmer without turning it into a foldable piece of paper with e-ink (which would be maybe the coolest gadget ever), but they can do battle against the iPad by making the Kindle into something ridiculously affordable (and making the books available on the iPad doesn't hurt, either.)

Comments (11) RSS

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When I Am King, all prices will end in either zero or five, and the penny will be abolished.

Posted by yelahneb

on July 29, 2010 at 1:15 PM

To prove your point Paul, I placed a pre-order on the $139.00 Kindle today at Amazon. The price I was waiting for happened.

And to be honest i like the iPad (as a cool toy) but it's too expensive and kinda big to use it the way I would as primarily an ebook reader.

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on July 29, 2010 at 1:21 PM

How impatient a person would you have to be to require a 3G Kindle? I just don't associate book reading with 100% connectivity.

$99 would be a good price. Take a hit on the hardware, get people into the library. It's worked well for game console makers.

Posted by Dougsf on July 29, 2010 at 1:29 PM

I wish it supported EPUB format, since that's what libraries use for lending e-books.

Posted by Orv on July 29, 2010 at 1:38 PM

The Kindle hardware is a red herring. Now that Amazon has realized it can sell eBooks to be read on iPad, computers, or laptops, it can concentrate on the profitable end of the business.

Posted by Monty on July 29, 2010 at 1:46 PM

Kindle sold as many in 2 years as Apple sold iPads in 3 months.

Epic Fail on Kindle's part. They can't even give them away.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on July 29, 2010 at 2:21 PM

Will is wrong as always. While neither company is releasing sales figures, according to most experts, the Kindle has probably sold more units than the iPad. IPad might catch up by the end of the year -- or might not, with the new pricing.

Posted by Fnarf

on July 29, 2010 at 2:33 PM

Id buy one for my 78 year old dad if they offered a cheaper 10" Unit. But all I see are 6" models.

Id then spend a few days at piratebookbay.org or whatever and fill up that 4 gb with tons of books he'll spend the rest of his short life reading.

Posted by Kinison

on July 29, 2010 at 2:46 PM

They should "give it away" with the purchase of x number of e-books. You would see the flying out of the warehouse.

Posted by npage148 on July 29, 2010 at 2:52 PM

I have an iPad and like it, but thanks to its nonreflective screen the Kindle is far and away a superior to iPad in terms of simply reading text. The "free" 3G everywhere makes it even more attractive, particularly at such a low price point.

Posted by josh

on July 29, 2010 at 4:00 PM

"They can't make the Kindle much slimmer without turning it into a foldable piece of paper with e-ink (which would be maybe the coolest gadget ever" .

They purchased a company out of New York that has this and in color. Just sayin'.

Posted by Book Good on July 29, 2010 at 4:07 PM