Amazon may compete with Apple iPad by giving away free Kindles

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 97
    I sold two Sony Readers on eBay right before the iPad was announced. I got about what I paid for them. It looks like I picked a really good time!



    As much as I don't care for the locked-down platform, the iPad will make a great ebook reader. People talk about eInk being better on the eyes--but in practice the contrast isn't that great, and it's slow. Not to mention the lack of color, or the price-premium for larger-sized devices.



    I'm hoping the iPad will make some inroads into the textbook market, but we'll see.
  • Reply 22 of 97
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by alansky View Post


    If Amazon hasn't known all along that Apple would eventually bury the Kindle with some kind of multifunction tablet, then they're not nearly as smart as people give them credit for. Amazon has accomplished their primary goal, which was to jump-start the ebook industry. Now they have to move over, like it or not. The Kindle is hopelessly quaint compared to the iPad.



    It doesn't seem that way. They've been nothing reactive. I don't count acting days prior to the iPad announcement as being proactive. It was obvious a tablet was coming, plus all the tablets at CES.
  • Reply 23 of 97
    This is quite a clever idea by Amazon. Remember they are not competing just with the iPad; dozens of e-book readers were announced last month at CES.



    Give away the Kindle and rival manufacturers (who don't have their own ebook stores to help subsidize costs) will not be able to compete. No profit to be made on hardware and companies will soon start pulling out of the dedicated e-book business. At the same time it enables Amazon to shift more Kindles which locks more people into Amazon. After a while you have invested too much into Kindle books that won't work on any other ebook reader that you won't be able to switch.



    I don't think this really affects Apple as anyone truly interested in ebooks would probably be looking at dedicated ebook readers rather than the iPad. And there is still the Kindle reader for the iPhone/iPad.
  • Reply 24 of 97
    Perhaps will be handy for reducing inventory of the old Kindles once the touch-screen revision comes out ... but that won't be until fall I would think.



    I really don't see the advantage for Amazon if they only break even or a small loss on the unit if they just want to promote their eBooks. They will sell plenty of eBooks for use on the iPad and Kindle both. They'd be wise not to freak out. Just keep improving the bookstore. I haven't used a Kindle or even held one, but from everything I hear I would bet that some people will still prefer them as dedicated eBook readers. They should focus on that crowd for the Kindle and leave the fancy pants software to Apple and others.
  • Reply 25 of 97
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by extremeskater View Post


    No. Apple makes its money on hardware, its sells software to promote and sell its hardware. That isn't that case with many companies. Many are willing to give away the hardware in order to sell and make money off the software. Gaming consoles are a perfect example, in many cases the hardware is sold at a loss to get you to buy games at 60.00 where the real money is made.



    Correct. Amazon does not need to sell Kindles to make money selling eBooks. I think they will be satisfied to sell content to iPad owners. Hell, they might make more profit selling iPads through their store than they currently make designing, building, advertising, and selling Kindles.
  • Reply 26 of 97
    By Amazon releasing a Kindle app for the iPhone they gave their customer who already bought kindle books a migration path to the iPad.



    Just show you Amazon had not clue what Apple was up to.
  • Reply 27 of 97
    This might actually be funny if it wasn't so sad.
  • Reply 28 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Maestro64 View Post


    By Amazon releasing a Kindle app for the iPhone they gave their customer who already bought kindle books a migration path to the iPad.



    Just show you Amazon had not clue what Apple was up to.



    Kindle software will now work on anything. You can run Kindle software on a Windows PC in fact I do. So its BS they had no clue they already made the Kindle software available to everyone.



    http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000426311



    Members on this forum need to get a clue and stop thinking everyone is somehow scared of Apple.
  • Reply 29 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by quinney View Post


    Correct. Amazon does not need to sell Kindles to make money selling eBooks. I think they will be satisfied to sell content to iPad owners. Hell, they might make more profit selling iPads through their store than they currently make designing, building, advertising, and selling Kindles.



    Exactly. While Apple is all about selling hardware and uses its software to do so, not everyone cares about selling hardware. The Kindle software has been made available to everyone, well before the iPad was even announced.
  • Reply 30 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Maestro64 View Post


    By Amazon releasing a Kindle app for the iPhone they gave their customer who already bought kindle books a migration path to the iPad.



    Just show you Amazon had not clue what Apple was up to.



    Which gives Amazon a way to make money even if Apple wins the hardware battle.



    Amazon was subsidizing e-book prices to kick start e-book sales. Long term Amazon will make its profits from the book sales not hardware.



    Amazon does not really care if you are reading on a Kindle, an iPhone/iPad or a Mac/PC as long as you buy your ebooks from Amazon. The more e-books you buy from Amazon (in their propriety format) the more locked into Amazon you become.
  • Reply 31 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    This might actually be funny if it wasn't so sad.



    Amazon is clearly scared to death of Apple and scared to death of losing Kindle hardware sales. I guess thats why they released the software to most of the world so you don't even have to buy an Kindle.



    I swear members on this forum actually think they are informed.



    For Windows.



    http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000426311



    Coming to the Mac



    http://mashable.com/2009/10/24/kindle-mac/



    "Neither version requires that you own a Kindle in order to download books"





    Damn they are scared to death.
  • Reply 32 of 97
    Another thing to consider is that

    1. They have a new model coming and by getting their best customers to start using Kindle, they might upgrade to the new unit when it's released while getting rid of their old models



    2. They figure to cover the cost with the additional earns from the higher pricing of the ebooks.



    A lot of Prime customers don't buy books but other items from Amazon so a free Kindle could expand their buying.
  • Reply 33 of 97
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Clive At Five View Post


    "Competing" isn't giving away free Kindles. Competing is offering a superior product for the price.



    Amazon doesn't have the resources to develop a tablet, so if they truly want to compete with e-readers, they'll have to make Kindle even better (color?) and cheaper for everyone. They already hold the title for cheap media prices, so at least they have that going for them...



    -Clive



    amazon doesn't have to develop one to sell one. there are a few companies that showed off OEM tablets at CES. all you have to do is customize the software a bit and you can sell your own branded tablet or gizmo
  • Reply 34 of 97
    tipootipoo Posts: 1,141member
    I just hope the iPad makes Amazon lower prices on the Kindle. The DX is nearly the same price with a fraction of the functionality, surely this will pressure them to lower the price.
  • Reply 35 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by extremeskater View Post


    No. Apple makes its money on hardware, its sells software to promote and sell its hardware. That isn't that case with many companies. Many are willing to give away the hardware in order to sell and make money off the software. Gaming consoles are a perfect example, in many cases the hardware is sold at a loss to get you to buy games at 60.00 where the real money is made.



    Console makers are not making "real" money except Nintendo. Microsoft and Sony game divisions are still a long long ways away from recouping their initial investments. I also can't think of any other industry that sells hardware at a discount in order to sell software, can you? The PC industry is based on hardware sales.
  • Reply 36 of 97
    If Amazon is going to go down this road of giving away physical objects for free, they should be ready to deal with any anti-trust problems that arise. This isn't software with zero marginal cost to handing it out to people for free; it costs money to make an object, and selling them for less than the cost to make them (or giving them away) to stave off competition is usually againt the law.
  • Reply 37 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by clickmyface View Post


    Console makers are not making "real" money except Nintendo. Microsoft and Sony game divisions are still a long long ways away from recouping their initial investments. I also can't think of any other industry that sells hardware at a discount in order to sell software, can you? The PC industry is based on hardware sales.



    This generation. Last generation the PlayStation2 was one of Sony's major sources of profit.



    It is the standard razor blade approach. Give away the razor. Make money on the blades.



    Printers are the same - they are typically sold at cost. Profits are made from sales of replacement toner/ink.
  • Reply 37 of 97
    All Amazon needs to do is make their reader for iPad better than iBooks, and offer more variety of contents than iBookstore (e.g., comic books). Also integrate Stanza (which they acquired last year) into the reader. Forget this Kindle hardware business.
  • Reply 39 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss View Post


    If Amazon doesn't already have a name for this promotion, I suggest "Rekindle."




    Well what do you call it when Apple gives away free iPods? \
  • Reply 40 of 97
    ihxoihxo Posts: 567member
    Looks like they finally found a way to sell the Kindle.



    This way there's no reason why you want to get other eBooks readers. And with Amazon Prime, you'll buy even more things from Amazon.



    It's hard to imagine the backlash from angry Kindle owners who paid full price, but it's not like the Kindle never had a price drop twice in 3 months.
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