5 ms·

Kindle now available on woot.com for $149.99

41 points by tomerico 16y ago

lionhearted 16y ago
Brilliant play, I love this. Very good way to announce the Amazon purchase to Woot users, then they'll have it shipped directly from Amazon.com showing the shipping/speed/logistics boost that Woot is going to get from Amazon. And they're selling a device that lets people impulse buy ebooks at high margins to a crowd of loyal impulsive buyers. Love it. I'm guessing the Kindle device is already a loss-leader (anyone know?) at $189, but the extra $40 off is well worth the price when they're paying millions for Woot. Tactfully bringing attention to the Amazon acquisition, getting some goodwill, and showing off he benefits of the Amazon acquisition... man, I want to meet Jeff Bezos someday, my admiration for the guy keeps growing every time I see him do anything.
- MichaelApproved 16y ago
  Worked on me. I had no idea Amazon bought Woot before this happened.
  - yellowbkpk 16y ago
    They announced it at 3:30pm Central yesterday, so you weren't too far behind. http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=13390 http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=13390
- MaysonL 16y ago
  They're probably getting ready to introduce a new version of the small Kindle (just did introduce a new big one), and want to clear out the old stock.
  - steveklabnik 16y ago
    It's another great example of why buying Woot makes a lot of sense for Amazon; they thrive off of exactly that kind of inventory. And I'm sure Amazon doesn't mind being able to easily liquidate inventory while still making some money back... Wasn't part of the reason they also purchased Zappos because of how good the inventory system was? I thought I read that somewhere...
sliverstorm 16y ago
Hmm, I wonder why...?
- woodrow 16y ago
  Kindle 3 forthcoming? Amazon.com, the world’s largest online retailer, isn’t relying merely on price cuts to contend with Apple. In August, Amazon.com plans to introduce a thinner Kindle with a more responsive screen and a sharper picture, people familiar with the company’s plans said last month. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-21/amazon-cuts-kindle-price-to-189-boosting-price-war-with-barnes-noble.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-21/amazon-cuts-kindle-...
  - ericz 16y ago
    Seems odd they would release a Kindle DX less than two months before a major new version?
    - smackfu 16y ago
      I think they're aimed at different markets, and the most important thing for the DX was to get the price further away from the iPad, which they did.
    - someperson 16y ago
      Kindle DX has always been released independently of the smaller model if I recall correctly.
- TeHCrAzY 16y ago
  Amazon bought woot! http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1476029 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1476029
- phreeza 16y ago
  It's the pricetag of the Nook? http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp
stevederico 16y ago
This Youtube video does a great job explaining today's woot acquisition. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnCHCcveteA&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnCHCcveteA&feature=playe...
tomerico 16y ago
Click on the "FULL STATS" link in the page to see the breakdown of customers.
brianpan 16y ago
Woot now available on Amazon.com for $149M.
nek4life 16y ago
Does anyone have one of these already? I'm wondering how well this kindle would work for reading programming books? PDF format in particular.
- nek4life 16y ago
  Oh and also I remember DRM issues with these, is that still an issue with the Kindle?
  - ruchi 16y ago
    Yes.
  - tsuraan 16y ago
    Kindle's DRM is about as much a hindrance as DVD-CSS; there's a package called mobiDeDRM, to which you can feed a book from your kindle and your kindle's serial number, and it strips the DRM. The file is still an annoying ebook format, but the DRM part falls right off.
- kroger 16y ago
  The (small) kindle reads PDF files, but usually the font is too small to read comfortably. With the new firmware upgrade one can resize pdfs, but I'm not sure if I want to read a programming book this way. I think the best way is to convert the PDF to the Mobi format with the free mobipocket creator: http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asp http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscrea... The conversion works pretty well and if you have patience you can even generate things like table of contents and proper metadata. Edit: you may also know that oreilly sells an ebook "package" with books in the following formats: Android, Mobi, PDF, ePub. For example: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596158071/ http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596158071/ (I'm not affiliated with oreilly in any way)
- smackfu 16y ago
  I wouldn't bother. It's made for reflowable lightly formatted text, like in a normal novel.
- 16y ago
anitadobson01 16y ago
A good writing style and information is certainly useful. For all readers continue to write such excellent articles. Thank you. http://www.stocktrains.com/ http://www.stocktrains.com/
someperson 16y ago
It's really frustrating that they don't ship internationally.
smackfu 16y ago
Sold out now. I guess people woke up.

41 points by tomerico 16y ago

Brilliant play, I love this. Very good way to announce the Amazon purchase to Woot users, then they'll have it shipped directly from Amazon.com showing the shipping/speed/logistics boost that Woot is going to get from Amazon. And they're selling a device that lets people impulse buy ebooks at high margins to a crowd of loyal impulsive buyers. Love it. I'm guessing the Kindle device is already a loss-leader (anyone know?) at $189, but the extra $40 off is well worth the price when they're paying millions for Woot. Tactfully bringing attention to the Amazon acquisition, getting some goodwill, and showing off he benefits of the Amazon acquisition... man, I want to meet Jeff Bezos someday, my admiration for the guy keeps growing every time I see him do anything.

MichaelApproved 16y ago
Worked on me. I had no idea Amazon bought Woot before this happened.
- yellowbkpk 16y ago
  They announced it at 3:30pm Central yesterday, so you weren't too far behind. http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=13390 http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=13390
MaysonL 16y ago
They're probably getting ready to introduce a new version of the small Kindle (just did introduce a new big one), and want to clear out the old stock.
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  It's another great example of why buying Woot makes a lot of sense for Amazon; they thrive off of exactly that kind of inventory. And I'm sure Amazon doesn't mind being able to easily liquidate inventory while still making some money back... Wasn't part of the reason they also purchased Zappos because of how good the inventory system was? I thought I read that somewhere...

sliverstorm 16y ago

Hmm, I wonder why...?

woodrow 16y ago
Kindle 3 forthcoming? Amazon.com, the world’s largest online retailer, isn’t relying merely on price cuts to contend with Apple. In August, Amazon.com plans to introduce a thinner Kindle with a more responsive screen and a sharper picture, people familiar with the company’s plans said last month. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-21/amazon-cuts-kindle-price-to-189-boosting-price-war-with-barnes-noble.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-21/amazon-cuts-kindle-...
- ericz 16y ago
  Seems odd they would release a Kindle DX less than two months before a major new version?
  - smackfu 16y ago
    I think they're aimed at different markets, and the most important thing for the DX was to get the price further away from the iPad, which they did.
  - someperson 16y ago
    Kindle DX has always been released independently of the smaller model if I recall correctly.
TeHCrAzY 16y ago
Amazon bought woot! http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1476029 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1476029
phreeza 16y ago
It's the pricetag of the Nook? http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp

stevederico 16y ago

This Youtube video does a great job explaining today's woot acquisition. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnCHCcveteA&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnCHCcveteA&feature=playe...

tomerico 16y ago

Click on the "FULL STATS" link in the page to see the breakdown of customers.

brianpan 16y ago

Woot now available on Amazon.com for $149M.

nek4life 16y ago

Does anyone have one of these already? I'm wondering how well this kindle would work for reading programming books? PDF format in particular.

nek4life 16y ago
Oh and also I remember DRM issues with these, is that still an issue with the Kindle?
- ruchi 16y ago
  Yes.
- tsuraan 16y ago
  Kindle's DRM is about as much a hindrance as DVD-CSS; there's a package called mobiDeDRM, to which you can feed a book from your kindle and your kindle's serial number, and it strips the DRM. The file is still an annoying ebook format, but the DRM part falls right off.
kroger 16y ago
The (small) kindle reads PDF files, but usually the font is too small to read comfortably. With the new firmware upgrade one can resize pdfs, but I'm not sure if I want to read a programming book this way. I think the best way is to convert the PDF to the Mobi format with the free mobipocket creator: http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asp http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscrea... The conversion works pretty well and if you have patience you can even generate things like table of contents and proper metadata. Edit: you may also know that oreilly sells an ebook "package" with books in the following formats: Android, Mobi, PDF, ePub. For example: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596158071/ http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596158071/ (I'm not affiliated with oreilly in any way)
smackfu 16y ago
I wouldn't bother. It's made for reflowable lightly formatted text, like in a normal novel.
16y ago

anitadobson01 16y ago

A good writing style and information is certainly useful. For all readers continue to write such excellent articles. Thank you. http://www.stocktrains.com/ http://www.stocktrains.com/

someperson 16y ago

It's really frustrating that they don't ship internationally.

smackfu 16y ago

Sold out now. I guess people woke up.