Amazon slashed the price of its Kindle e-reader to $299 Wednesday, reports the Associated Press. The device sold for $399 when it first hit the market in 2007 and later dropped to $359. The larger DX model still sells for $489.
From the story:
"Amazon has not disclosed Kindle sales figures, and the publishing industry has said e-books account for less than 1 percent of book sales. But it is a fast-growing, competitive segment. Customers can wirelessly download books to the Kindle, with new releases often as inexpensive as $10.
ThinkEquity analyst Ed Weller was surprised that Amazon cut the Kindle's price so soon after February's introduction of the latest model of the device. He said $299 'feels like a much hotter price' than $359."
Still a lot of money for a device that only displays books or newspaper subscriptions purchased from amazon. Also, the $9.99 price for books won't hold, they are losing money on every book sold. Plus you can't loan the book to anyone outside your household.
Better to wait for more competition, with open source and industry standard formats.
Posted by: SilviaC | July 08, 2009 at 06:19 PM
I still can't get over the DX sells for over four hundred dollars!
Posted by: Connie | July 08, 2009 at 06:25 PM
That sucks. My brother just bought one for $360.
Posted by: Andy | July 08, 2009 at 10:42 PM
That's the problem with cutting your prices; the people who bought it first get mad (just like the original iPhone!)
Posted by: cs | July 09, 2009 at 07:58 AM