Kindles with Whispersync over 2G was subsidised directly by you buying books. You'll note though that getting a Kindle with 3G nowdays means paying for the mor

Kindles with Whispersync over 2G was subsidised directly by you buying books. You'll note though that getting a Kindle with 3G nowdays means paying for the more expensive models - Paperwhite or Oasis. > Nobody is making you pay for service I think you missed what I said. I was talking from the perspective of a manufacturer. The cost of buying and integration the new hardware, and also an ongoing monthly sim cost for the benefit of getting analytics and ads from a tiny fraction of your userbase that does NOT already have their TV hooked up to wifi is significant, and I doubt it comes close to the added revenue you might get from that fraction of users. That also assumes that those who don't have their Smart TV hooked up to wifi are going to be in cellular range.