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The Ad-Filled Vision Of Jeff Bezos
- zaptheimpaler 14y agoGreat article, but why all the bitterness towards the ad-based revenue? Ad-subsidized products are exactly that - products that are much cheaper than they would've been without ads. If thats a trade-off you're willing to accept, then buy one. It's a diversification of the product in a way - some people that wouldn't usually be able to buy products now can, at the cost of suffering through some ads. The argument about the authors getting screwed over by serials is completely unfounded. Simply because amazon is selling serials for $1.99 does not imply that authors would suddenly get less money than they usually do. If anything, I'd wager they would get the amount they usually do for the whole book, and maybe a small commission off of the ads. Not that amazon won't take the bulk of the ad profits; they surely will, but on the whole theres no reason the authors should suddenly get shafted. It's even better that Bezos is relatively upfront about his strategy (not that he would give it away too early, but presumably now that its too late for anyone to catch up) rather than pretending Amazon loves it customers for the wonderful and unique snowflakes they are. That said, they do have great customer service - its always been a straightforward, no-nonsense corp. Also, I realize my post is largely based on general economic facts, so feel free to fire away on the things I missed.