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New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only, $189 3G, available August 27th
- ajg1977 16y agoInteresting that there's only a $50 premium for the 3G Kindle, whereas the 3G iPad is an additional $130 over the Wifi model. Different licensing agreements? Amazon taking a loss? Typical Apple markup?
- jwhitlark 16y agoNot only that, you need a separate data plan for the iPad, right?
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- miratrix 16y agoiSuppli estimates that 3G radio adds about $25 to the cost of iPad (http://www.isuppli.com/teardowns-manufacturing-and-pricing/news/pages/mid-rangeipadtogeneratemaximumprofitsforapple,isuppliestimates.aspx http://www.isuppli.com/teardowns-manufacturing-and-pricing/n...) so at $50, I'd imagine that Amazon's probably recouping the cost of baseband hardware + development time and effort, and not much else. It's amazing to think that they can throw in the free 3G access on top on the hardware for just $50 extra. I guess they're counting on low browser and web usage due to the e-ink screen...
- kalid 16y agoWeb browsing on the kindle is painful enough that I'd only use it for emergencies.
- jonknee 16y ago> It's amazing to think that they can throw in the free 3G access on top on the hardware for just $50 extra. I guess they're counting on low browser and web usage due to the e-ink screen... I think that's subsidized by the increased amount of books people buy when they can buy them anytime anywhere but only through Amazon.
- jeremymcanally 16y agoI'd imagine the web usage is probably a LOT heavier on an iPad than a Kindle (at least, I use it a lot more on my iPad than I do my Kindle... :)).
- Tichy 16y agoYeah, more wear and tear on the 3G chips, so Apple had to put extra-enforced chips in there.
- elblanco 16y agoNow this is starting to get closer to a sweet spot. I'm curious if E-Ink is starting to lower their licensing costs now that there's a lot more competition in the space, or if manufacturing the screens is just becoming cheaper. Design looks more polished too.
- mikecane 16y agoIt's very interesting that Amazon has gone with a WebKit-based browser.
- jwhitlark 16y agoAnother case where tethering makes sense.
- keltex 16y ago$130 is a really compelling price point. The NY Times charges $20/month to access their Kindle edition ($240/year). What they should do is offer a 2-year contract and throw a Kindle in for free. I personally hate this model, but it's been proven effective (at least in the U.S.) for cell phones sales.
- jonknee 16y agoThey would now be a lot better off buying Kindle's for as many of their dead-tree customers as they can and switching them over to digital delivery. They have less than a million daily subscribers (so that's just $130m for the Kindles) and spend $240m a year in raw materials. Gobs more for the staff. Of course they would need to figure out advertising, but they would need to sell less of it with the lowered printing/delivery costs. Not an original idea, but now a lot more financially sound: http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/1/printing-the-nyt-costs-twice-as-much-as-sending-every-subscriber-a-free-kindle http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/1/printing-the-nyt-costs...
- philwelch 16y agoYou're not accounting for newsstand revenue. If they went all digital, newsstand revenue would disappear. If they didn't go all digital, they wouldn't spend all $240 million on paper subscribers. So either way it's not a fair comparison.
- there 16y agonyt also has a kindle subscription which is basically their rss feed in a nicer format. it's like $2/month. i liked that one better because i found it difficult to navigate their full subscription version and never read all of the articles anyway.
- melling 16y agoI haven't enabled 3G on my iPad because I'm usually near wifi these days. I can't imagine that a 3G Kindle is necessary for too many people. The extra cost is your first 4 books.
- dandelany 16y agoIt's not really necessary for anyone, but it is quite a nice luxury. I was at the beach last week and a friend (a highschool English teacher) recommended a novel that she teaches her students ("The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell; it's great so far). I was so intrigued by her explanation of it that I bought it then and there, sitting on the beach, and started reading it 30 seconds later. So I expect that those who can afford it will. That said, I keep the 3G off when I'm not using it, because it tears through the battery, even when the Kindle's off(!) so that it can always receive new subscriptions.
- JunkDNA 16y agoAt that price, I'd be tempted to get one for situations where I would worry about my iPad. I'd consider taking a $139 kindle to the beach. I'm terrified of taking my iPad.
- jonknee 16y agoNot to mention you'll actually be able to see the Kindle's screen at the beach.
- acangiano 16y agoThe world of reading is about to change. $139 is not quite Seth Godin's suggestion for a "paperback" device, but it's still very affordable. At this price point, I think that many relatively tech savvy readers will end up buying one simply because they can. Seth Godin's reaction: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/07/here-comes-the-paperback-kindle-as-promised.html http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/07/here-comes-t...
- mhd 16y agoFinally back and forward buttons on both sides. And I've always been rather satisfied with the page turning speed, especially compared to the nook, so if that got even faster… I'm tempted to sell my old one now. If the increased speed of the e-ink translates to a better browser, the 3G model might finally be a good HHGTTG replacement for travelers (Con against the iPad: roaming charges). Even better if the developer program would finally take off and someone would make a dedicated Wikipedia app.
- moultano 16y agoFrankly, I don't know why someone would choose this over reading on your smart phone. (Assuming you have a smart phone.) I bought a nook, but then returned it after discovering that its pdf support sucked, and that I could read much more easily using Aldiko on my nexus. I find e-ink screens to actually be much worse for reading compared with white text on a black background on a hi-res LCD/OLED. The page turning time is a deal-breaker compared with a smart phone. That e-ink KACHUNKA every time gives me a headache for some reason. To me, battery life seems like the only selling point.
- minouye 16y agoI love my Kindle and this is awesome news. For all of you on the fence, here's why I recommend everyone buy a Kindle (haven't used a Nook, but I think most of these points apply): 1. You will read more. 2. The reading experience will be better than you think--there was a 1-2 day adjustment period for me. After that, I didn't even notice I wasn't reading paper and ink. 3. You can highlight and make notes in books that are actually usable. Remember post-its, bookmarks, notes in the margins? I loved to mark-up books, but never pulled them out again to reference what I wrote. Now I have all of my highlights in one place. I can even highlight a passage and share it on Twitter or Facebook (if you have 3G, then you can do this while sitting on the beach!) 4. I have all of my books with me via my phone. I just read Moneyball and wanted to share a quote with a friend. I was able to open up the Kindle app and presto, I'm able to share it with them. 5. I am more mobile (I have less stuff). Instead of buying books to collect them, I am buying them to consume them. Others may not have this problem, but I did. 5. Did I mention you will read more?! If you like reading and have ever set a goal to read more, please buy a Kindle. If a friend recommends a book to you during the day, you can download it while sitting in a comfy chair when you get home, and can be reading it seconds later. Most of the arguments about whether or not to buy a Kindle center on the price. At $140, it is well worth it when you consider the additional amount of reading you will do. You will learn more, you will read more books, it will be worth it!
- pg 16y agoWhy is a Kindle better than an iPad?
- tl 16y agoI don't know that it's better but it's a quarter of the price of my iPad during a period of penny pinching.
- desigooner 16y ago1. A more naturaL reading experience to the eye. 2. Less stressful. after spending the day in front of a computer and tv, you wouldn't want to strain you eyes while reading i guess. 3.Battery life.
- jakarta 16y agoCan anyone give me their take on viewing PDFs with the non-DX Kindle? I've been seriously thinking about getting one. I read through reports and ebooks pretty heavily and my chief concern is that if I bought a Kindle I'd end up reading mangled PDFs where the formatting gets distorted to accomodate the smaller screen size.
- 2mur 16y agoThe format does not get distorted. Before the 2.5 update, you were restricted to viewing the pdf in a landscape view at page width. So if you have an A4 sized doc, it would take about 2-2.5 'nexts' to get through a page. It was readable and I read a number of journal articles and programming books that way, but it was a less than ideal experience. Post-2.5 allows you to zoom pdfs and pan.
- someperson 16y agoFormatting is fine. PDF was designed for that very purpose anyway. Zooming and generally navigating a PDF is a huge pain. Screen refreshes are slow. Much like navigating through a plot on a graphics calculator. PDF reading is a good extra, don't expect too much. I convert all text heavy, non-technical books using "calibre" to the PRC format. Works well enough for reading for pleasure. (PS. I have a Kindle 2. Received it a few weeks ago)
- sliverstorm 16y agoIn short, it is 100% functional but if you plan on reading a lot of PDF's, look to the DX.
- jakarta 16y agothanks. That is what I thought. I think at the DX price point I might instead opt for an iPad.
- 2mur 16y ago</lurk>I have a launch Kindle 2. I love the device for all of the same reasons that minouye listed. I never had any problems with it until this past weekend. I turned on the 3G and hit the 'sync/update' option. I knew that it was going to download and install the newer 2.5 update (which added the long-needed 'collections' feature which allows you to arbitrarily group your books). Well it bricked the device. I'm not sure how it happened. I was well outside (~6 months) the 1 yr warranty. I called them up and they overnighted a brand-new K2 at no cost. (At least it looks brand-new, it could be a really well-preserved refurb). That kind of experience is why I really like Amazon and the Kindle. I don't know if I have any reason to upgrade for myself, but at $140 I think this is getting into gift range for my Mom and the in-laws for Xmas. (just registered to tell this story... long-time lurker)
- 2mur 16y agoI'll also add that the Kindle shows up as a USB-connected storage device so you don't need special drivers or software (MS-only etc) to drop files on it. That was a big concern for me when I originally was researching eInk devices because I don't have any Windows boxes at home.
- fletchowns 16y agoWhen you are done reading a book on the Kindle can you loan it to a friend? (the book, not the whole Kindle!)
- kiujhyghjkl 16y agoHaven't you seen the ads ? - that sort of things funds terrorism and drug dealing !
- Tichy 16y agoI also don't like this about the Kindle, but I must admit I am intrigued since I installed the Kindle Android app and found a lot of classics for free. So it might be worth getting just for the free books alone. (Obviously you should be able to "share" the free books).
- mattmillr 16y agoWhen I saw the new price point, I actually briefly considered buying a $139 model so I could loan the whole Kindle (and my whole electronic library) to a friend... Then again, I bought a paperback book yesterday specifically because I knew I would be reading it and passing it on. This really is the biggest sore point for e-readers.
- technomancy 16y agoDang, it still has that terrible D-pad. Looks nice otherwise, but I hope they go back to the silver ribbon for v4; it's so much nicer.
- tjpick 16y agoI got on of these for $149 (NZ) and it does the trick. Same display technology as the kindle anyway. http://www.koboereader.com/ http://www.koboereader.com/
- KevinMS 16y agoDoes anybody have any good/killer reasons to recommend the 3G over the wifi-only?
- tallanvor 16y agoOnly the convenience factor, which could be a good reason, but I wouldn't call it killer. 3G is still easier to find than free wifi. That said, I'm using the original Kindle 2 (uses Sprint's network) in Norway, so effectively I have no wireless option at all, and I've survived just fine. Damn. I may have just talked myself out of the 3G version.
- leviathant 16y agoThe only thing I used the 3G in my Kindle for was when I was in Egypt. Rather than hunt down a wifi signal for our netbook, I could check my gmail and post to twitter from my Kindle. I was on a train between Cairo and Luxor and posting to Twitter about how I'm on a train in BFE. I was telling friends about camping in the white desert from my Kindle. Completely free of charge, in the middle of the Egyptian desert. That was definitely worth it. If you don't travel so much, save $50 and get the wifi-only version.
- mike463 16y agoIt saves me quite a bit of money. I never buy books until I'm sure I want to read them. When I first got my kindle, I bought more than one book at once, and I regretted it. Now I keep a backlog of sample books on my kindle. When I finish my current book, I can pick something from the many sample books I have, and if I like what i read, I buy it right then. Of course, I tend to carry my kindle quite a bit out and about when killing time (auto shop, kids swim lessons, etc)
- gmosx 16y agoEven though I bought my Kindle less than a year ago, I am considering switching to the new version. All my wishes are fulfilled in this version: * WiFi support = blog access, web browser, full content in subscriptions and hopefully lower prices for international users * better contrast (I found Kindle2's contrast lacking) * Even lighter * Better Forward/Backward buttons positioning * Improved PDF support Oh, and I love the dark color ;-)
- dotcoma 16y ago...and the 3G version is going to have free worldwide web browsing included? (some people in Europe are saying so)
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- rodh257 16y agoI want an e-reader, but I want to read technical (coding) PDFs etc. I'm told this will be inconvenient at a screen this size and that I should get the Kindle DX. Hopefully they announce a massive price drop on the DX as well (preferably before I visit the USA in December)
- teilo 16y agoI have a Nook. I chose it over the Kindle for two reasons: Micro-SD card support, and ePub support. The 4Gb internal memory in the Kindle 3 largely eliminates the need for memory expansion. The lack of epub is the deal-breaker for me. A Nook can read any epub from any store supporting the Adobe Digital Editions DRM. To my knowledge, this is all of them, including Sony. Of course, if the epub is DRM-free it will work as well. epub is an open format. It is mostly HTML/CSS, with support for embedded fonts and a normalized system for storing images, meta-data, etc. It is widely being supported by various open source tools. Google is making their public domain books available as ePubs (quality varies). Topaz and Mobi are proprietary formats. Kindle is the only reader of note using them. They can be converted to epub if the DRM is broken (possible, but YMMV), but it is often a time-consuming process, and thus not worth it. If the new Kindle would support epub, it would be a hands-down winner. But, of course, that would mean that people are able to purchase books from sources other than Amazon. Since the Nook runs Android, I am hoping some clever person figures out a way to hack the Kindle for Android app to run on the Nook. Best of both worlds.