No doubt the recent price drop move by Apple encouraged Amazon to lower their Kindle price, but unfortunately they didn’t lower it much.
Apple $400 -> $200 ($200 lower!)
Amazon $400 -> $359 (not as much lower!)
I am still infatuated with the idea behind Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader, but I’m not convinced dropping $40 will make people rush out to grab one.
(if Amazon happens to be listening) how about keeping the Kindle at $400, but throwing in $100 worth of ‘free’* ebook purchasing power?
I don’t know what Amazon’s take is on each e-book sale, but I imagine it is close to 50%. If that is the case, Amazon’s real-world cost for offering $100 of ‘free’ e-books is only $50. This is pretty close to current lower price point AND it gives the consumer a much greater real-world value.
That being said, if I had plenty of money AND plenty of reading time I’d snap this up right now.
* “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” – Milton Friedman
I’m sure they are working on it (just like the iPhone). This is from Engadget’s blog:
Talking about whether the Kindle was built to work on non-CDMA networks (read: networks other than Sprint). Bezo said: “we’re gonna — we need to be thinking globally about the device, which we are.” He almost slipped there and said “We’re gonna launch internationally,” but caught himself.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/28/bezos-second-kindle-is-not-that-near-amazon-to-launch-paid-v/
Still no plan to sell Kindle outside US, right ?
I wonder if it will EVER be available to those not living in US…