.
Chart: Courtesy of Technium
Could we really see free Kindle readers for all? Hardly, but there is the distinct possibility of “free” Kindles for some at least. We all think we know that Amazon already sell their ebook readers at less than cost.
That isn’t such a silly idea when you consider just how much content owners are downloading. But a free ebook reader? Really? Well the jury is still out, but checking how the price of Amazon’s reader has dropped since 2009 you can see that in theory at least the price really should end up at zero.
Cheap Kindle Readers 2011
Frankly, we just don’t buy it. But what we do buy, is Amazon giving us a much cheaper Kindle. $100 has always been the real bench-mark. Get your gadget price lower than that (whilst keeping the quality up) and you have an impulse buy that far more consumers will indulge in.
Well so far we are still a little way off that $100 threshold. But with the wi-fi only version available (at the time of writing) for only $139, that magical price bracket is looking a lot more realistic than ever.
Hold on, you don’t even have to pay $139. In May 2011, Amazon will start shipping their Kindle With Special Offers. This is priced at an even lower $114 and to all intents and purposes it is identical to the $139 model. The only difference is that instead of screen-savers depicting famous authors, you get sponsored ads and special offers. These only appear when the device is “resting” so won’t actually interfere with the reading experience (though you will see them at the bottom of the home screen page too), and might just encourage more consumers into the Kindle fold.
Free Kindles for 2011
The possibility of free ebook readers from Amazon is likely to be a little more complicated. Rather than simply give away their best selling product to all and sundry, it seems a distinct possibility that Amazon would give them to their Prime customers.
Those are the folks who spend around $80 to enjoy free 2 day shipping, and free video streaming, as well as other benefits as loyal Amazon customers. Perhaps if you give those guys an ebook reader, they will spend even more at the online store?
Personally I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a free Kindle reader, but you never know, perhaps the blogging gossips will be right. It would seem more likely if a simple wi-fi Kindle was reduced heavily in price as another version of Amazon’s reader were introduced, say a color Android Kindle tablet for example?
Update – well we now have a $99 Kindle Touch and a $79 Kindle 4 (both ad supported), so the prices are most definitely moving in the right direction!