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By this logic, Amazon will pay you to take a Kindle by the start of next year. Amazon makes future money on Kindle owners because they're avid book readers and

By this logic, Amazon will pay you to take a Kindle by the start of next year. Amazon makes future money on Kindle owners because they're avid book readers and they buy a lot of eBooks. If Amazon were to give away Kindles for free a lot of non-avid readers would pick them up just to have one, which would kill the model. I think a $99 price point (maybe $49 with Prime) makes a lot more sense.

drawkbox 16y ago
Yes but if it is only free with an Amazon Prime account, Amazon gets many more customers. If it is $49 without Prime then many people may just go Prime and Amazon really wins either way.
jerf 16y ago
While that line obviously can not extend downwards forever, it would not surprise me at all that the Kindle eventually comes with an $X credit good for about 2 or 3 ebooks as well as the semi-free price tag, which is close enough to paying you that it fits, I think. The market is enormous and once the hardware is all-but-free hooking you in with a few "free" ebooks is a no-brainer. Ebooks aren't free but their marginal costs are almost indistinguishable from "free".
reedlaw 16y ago
I own a Kindle but rarely buy Kindle books from Amazon. There is plenty of high-quality free content as well as eBooks from other publishers like Pragmatic Press.
- officemonkey 16y ago
  For public domain content, Project Gutenberg has become my first stop. When they started, they were just txt and html files, but now they're re now serving up editions for all the major eReaders.
- Roritharr 16y ago
  Thats my major concern here, i recently bought the Cracked.com Kindle Book and was astonished how amazingly bad the Kindle Version is in comparison to the real one. The included images were pixelated to the point of beeing unrecognizable and the text seemed to be not really formatted for my device. And thats considering i paid 4$ more than the real one would have cost... so until they produce more quality in these things i stick to Project Gutenberg and read the classics.
Tyrant505 16y ago
Wouldn't Amazon be able to tell if existing customers are avid readers or not by their purchase history? Perhaps, rather than thinking they would give them out on a street corner, they would gift them to customers who reach a purchase $amount/frequency.
- kd0amg 16y ago
  Wouldn't Amazon be able to tell if existing customers are avid readers or not by their purchase history? Sure, if they buy their books from Amazon. I tend to buy from brick-and-mortar stores (a habit I should perhaps get out of, since there doesn't seem to be a store with a decent selection within 100 miles).
deleted 16y ago
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drawkbox 16y ago

Yes but if it is only free with an Amazon Prime account, Amazon gets many more customers. If it is $49 without Prime then many people may just go Prime and Amazon really wins either way.

jerf 16y ago

While that line obviously can not extend downwards forever, it would not surprise me at all that the Kindle eventually comes with an $X credit good for about 2 or 3 ebooks as well as the semi-free price tag, which is close enough to paying you that it fits, I think. The market is enormous and once the hardware is all-but-free hooking you in with a few "free" ebooks is a no-brainer. Ebooks aren't free but their marginal costs are almost indistinguishable from "free".

reedlaw 16y ago

I own a Kindle but rarely buy Kindle books from Amazon. There is plenty of high-quality free content as well as eBooks from other publishers like Pragmatic Press.

officemonkey 16y ago
For public domain content, Project Gutenberg has become my first stop. When they started, they were just txt and html files, but now they're re now serving up editions for all the major eReaders.
Roritharr 16y ago
Thats my major concern here, i recently bought the Cracked.com Kindle Book and was astonished how amazingly bad the Kindle Version is in comparison to the real one. The included images were pixelated to the point of beeing unrecognizable and the text seemed to be not really formatted for my device. And thats considering i paid 4$ more than the real one would have cost... so until they produce more quality in these things i stick to Project Gutenberg and read the classics.

Tyrant505 16y ago

Wouldn't Amazon be able to tell if existing customers are avid readers or not by their purchase history? Perhaps, rather than thinking they would give them out on a street corner, they would gift them to customers who reach a purchase $amount/frequency.

kd0amg 16y ago
Wouldn't Amazon be able to tell if existing customers are avid readers or not by their purchase history? Sure, if they buy their books from Amazon. I tend to buy from brick-and-mortar stores (a habit I should perhaps get out of, since there doesn't seem to be a store with a decent selection within 100 miles).

deleted 16y ago

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