No, the point is to make the Kindle hardware a good-enough substitute for a book that they can use it as a loss leader to grow their digital book business. Or,

No, the point is to make the Kindle hardware a good-enough substitute for a book that they can use it as a loss leader to grow their digital book business. Or, the iPhone/PC/etc versions of the Kindle reader make every Kindle sold even better, giving you more reason to buy a Kindle and Kindle books. I.e. even if your kindle breaks you can still read the books you bought.