The Tech-pert: Is the Amazon Kindle Special Offers Worth the Price?
By Rick.BroidaGuest Blogger(view all posts by Rick.Broida)
at 8:54AM Tuesday April 12, 2011
under
Spotlight Deals
I'm not sure how to feel right now.
Yesterday, Amazon took the wraps off the
Kindle with Special Offers, an updated version of the $139 Wi-Fi-only Kindle. What's so "special" about it? In a word: ads.
Priced at $114, the Kindle with Special Offers (
KSO for short) displays ads instead of the author illustrations that normally appear when the device is in standby mode. It also shows ad banners along the bottom of the home screen.
Ads don't appear in books--for now.
Like I said, I'm not sure how to feel about this. As a card-carrying cheapskate, I'm certainly in favor of saving $25 on a Kindle. What's more, many of the Special Offers planned for the KSO rollout look pretty attractive: a $20 Amazon gift card for $10, $6 for six audiobooks, 50 percent off a Roku box, and so on. What's not to like?
Apart from the obvious--books have always offered an escape from advertising, arguably the last one left on the planet--I think Amazon made a crucial mistake with the KSO: $114 is not that great a deal.
For starters, if you have an eBay account, you can buy a
Barnes & Noble Nook for $119 shipped. (
And watch for deals; I've seen that price as low as $79 in recent weeks.) As I noted in my recent post on what to look for when
comparing eReaders, the Nook has the enviable ability to borrow e-books from your local library.
So does the
Kobo, available from Borders for $99.99. In other words for five bucks more--or 15 bucks less than the KSO--you can get a similar reader that's free of advertising, and compatible with free library e-books. (
Kindle doesn't support the all-important EPUB format.)
I'm truly puzzled by Amazon's decision to price the KSO at $114. Any first-year marketing student will tell you that the $99 price point is infinitely more attractive to buyers. No doubt the KSO will get there eventually; I just don't understand why it didn't start there. (
And don't get me started on the name. "Kindle with Special Offers"? That may just be one of the worst product names ever, and I've seen a few.)
Ultimately, I wouldn't buy the KSO just to save $25, as I don't think the savings are deep enough--and I really don't want ads intruding on my reading experience, however unobtrusively. There are better eReader options out there, all of them ad-free--for now, anyway.
Okay, your turn: think you'll order a KSO? (
It's available for pre-order now, with delivery expected around May 3.) Do you think it's okay for ads to join e-books, or do you agree they have no place together? How low would Amazon need to price the KSO for you to pull the trigger? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Self-proclaimed cheapskate Rick Broida has been a technology writer for
over 20 years. He has authored over a dozen books, including, most recently,
"How to Do Everything: Palm Pre." Currently he writes the Cheapskate blog.
I already have a Kindle and don't think the $114 one is worth it. Ads can get pretty annoying when you are reading a book.
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I agree with you- ads are incredibly annoying, and I think to be worth it, the KSO would have to be significantly cheaper than the Kindle. At least it seems like the ads are relevant- it seems like someone who'd buy a Kindle would be interested in the Amazon, audiobook and Roku box deals you listed. Still, I'm only willing to deal with ads if the discount is very significant.
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yea, exactly. if it were $50 cheaper, then maybe I'd consider it. plus, amazon is gonna make a ton of money with these ads too!
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Actually, the killer deal here would be to offer the Kindle for free. I'd consider that a fair price for an ad-supported device.
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that's a very good point, Rick.
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Barnes & Noble NOOK 3G + WiFi eReader $105 shipped at Woot.com today
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@copperweb: Awesome deal, no doubt about it!
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Amazon must have thought people would confuse Kindle with Special Offers for Friends with Benefits.
When rumors of a really cheap Kindle began to circulate, I don't think anybody pictured this. The Groupon-like aspect of this deal may, however, allow them to hold down hardware prices (or lower them even further with a book-club type deal), as well as lowering book prices. There are huge howls of protest every time a Kindle edition comes out that is more expensive than the hardcover.
Like you, however, I found the $80 Nook deal compelling enough to buy two. Being able to load library books on a reader for my wife has made me the hero of my household. While claiming to be a die-hard paper proponent, once Lenore got the thing in her hands she hasn't let go.
I've been resisting the tablet trend myself, mainly because I want less daily contact with the Internet, not more. If I were to go that route, however, I would be mighty tempted to get a color Nook and install an open version of
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Oops, ran out of space. I would be tempted to get a color Nook and install an open version of Android on it. For $250, it makes a killer tablet that is way more than "half an iPad"
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@sleemon: I've been eyeballing the color Nook as well for precisely that reason. Would probably jump on it at $200.
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I say no to the ads. I'm now seriously looking at the Nook.
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