Amazon planning to sell ads on Kindle Fire welcome screen

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
Amazon has reportedly begun pitching to advertising agencies the opportunity to advertise on the welcome screen of its Kindle Fire tablet for a price of $600,000.

Details on the program were shared this week by an executive at an ad agency with Ad Age. Amazon was said to have pitched the new advertising program to the agency, offering more ad inventory and the opportunity to be included in an Amazon public relations campaign if they spend $1 million on Kindle Fire ads.

Amazon already sells ad-supported versions of its e-ink-based Kindle readers, which are advertised as "Kindle with Special Offers." On those devices, advertising-driven screen savers will display when the hardware is not in use.

It's unknown whether Amazon plans to offer a new ad-supported Kindle Fire at an even lower price than the hardware's current $199 cost, or if it plans to place ads on the welcome screens of existing Kindle Fire owners. However, Ad Age did state the $600,000 minimum ad buy-in would be a high price "for an ad unit on a device that currently has no distribution," suggesting the ads will be displayed on current models.

Agency executives who spoke about Amazon's pitch to them off the record declined to participate the in-the-works advertising program. They expressed concern over the fact that Amazon isn't guaranteeing the number of devices the advertisements will reach, because Amazon "hasn't decided whether the ads will start popping up on devices that have already been purchased or just on new devices."

Kindle Fire


Amazon is already believed to be taking a loss for selling the Kindle Fire for just $199. At that price, the touchscreen tablet sells for half the price of Apple's $399 iPad 2.

Earlier this month, new data from IDC showed that shipments of the Kindle Fire saw a "steep drop" in the first quarter of 2012, allowing Apple's iPad to grow to 68 percent of tablets shipped worldwide. The Kindle Fire fell from a 16.8 percent share of shipments during the fourth quarter of calendar 2011 to just 4 percent of shipments in the first quarter of 2012, suggesting demand weakened significantly after the holiday shopping season.

Reports have suggested that Amazon plans to launch a larger Kindle Fire with a 10.1-inch display later this year that would more directly compete with Apple's 9.7-inch iPad. The new, larger Kindle Fire is believed to be in development under the code name "Coyote."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 51
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    BA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…


     


    I guess that's the future of software, isn't it? Apple's model, where you get the software, and Google/Amazon's model where they whore themselves out to advertisers in an attempt to drop prices to compete with Apple.


     


    And now I sit back and wait for someone to link me to those patents of Apple's regarding advertising within the OS. News flash: they're not being used! And I wouldn't be surprised if Apple patented them simply so Google and Friends would either have to pay Apple to do that or so they couldn't at all.

  • Reply 2 of 51
    bigdaddypbigdaddyp Posts: 811member
    Stay classy Amazon. Stay classy.
  • Reply 3 of 51
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    So good to see Amazon putting user experience ahead of all other interests.
  • Reply 4 of 51


    Jeff Bezos is a selfish money whore who doesn't feel that he owes his employees anything, including health care. This comes from a very close friend of mine who works for his personal estate and has interactions with him on a regular basis. The guy is a first class a-hole.

  • Reply 5 of 51
    bigmac2bigmac2 Posts: 639member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post



    So good to see Amazon putting user experience ahead of all other interests.


     


    You expected something different from a POS device sold below his cost? 

  • Reply 6 of 51
    ankleskaterankleskater Posts: 1,287member


    Aha! Just like I said before - it's more than just about making up for losses in hardware with contents sales.

  • Reply 7 of 51
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BigMac2 View Post

    You expected something different from a POS device sold below his cost? 


     


     Cool! Kindle can be used as a point-of-sale terminal?

  • Reply 8 of 51
    tipootipoo Posts: 1,141member


    I would not mind an ad supported Fire for $99. But not for the paltry discounts they did with the normal Kindle. 





    Heck, I guess even with a smaller discount like $150 the develoment community would find a way to get them off. 

  • Reply 9 of 51
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member


    Amazon's ethos is one of the reasons why I don't fear them taking over.  


     


     


    They don't mind doing annoying things like this which means they'll always be the value 


    company but never the premium company.   

  • Reply 10 of 51
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member


    Imagine having to sit through 30 seconds video commercial every time you want to use your Kindle....


     


    THAT WOULD BE AWESOME


     


     image

  • Reply 11 of 51
    constable odoconstable odo Posts: 1,041member


    You people laugh, but I can almost guarantee you that Wall Street is going to love the idea and more money will be pouring into Amazon.  Money is money and whoring is good.  Jeff Bezos is going to be called a genius and he'll make that many more friends where it counts.  Those guys that control Wall Street all love Jeff Bezos and that's why Amazon's P/E is close to 190.  Wall Street does not care about end user experience crap.  It's not worth anything to them because they can't put a fixed value on something like that.  They think it's great if consumers have to click through ads to get to where they want to go.  It's what you call a captive audience and that begets ad revenue.  The whole Android OS model is built for advertising.  It's made for consumers who don't want to pay for anything.

  • Reply 12 of 51
    ankleskaterankleskater Posts: 1,287member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post


    You people laugh, but I can almost guarantee you that Wall Street is going to love the idea and more money will be pouring into Amazon.  Money is money and whoring is good.  Jeff Bezos is going to be called a genius and he'll make that many more friends where it counts.  Those guys that control Wall Street all love Jeff Bezos and that's why Amazon's P/E is close to 190.  Wall Street does not care about end user experience crap.  It's not worth anything to them because they can't put a fixed value on something like that.  They think it's great if consumers have to click through ads to get to where they want to go.  It's what you call a captive audience and that begets ad revenue.  The whole Android OS model is built for advertising.  It's made for consumers who don't want to pay for anything.



     


    Apple doesn't seem to disagree, but they just can't quite execute with iAD.

  • Reply 13 of 51
    island hermitisland hermit Posts: 6,217member


    Kindle Fire?


     


    What's a Kindle Fire??!

     

  • Reply 14 of 51


    Wow! Seriously? It is sickening. It seems that everything is AD driven these days. Next thing you know, Charmin will start selling ad space on every sheet of toilet paper. Its really sickening. Ads everywhere. I pay for TV, has ads. I pay for cellular service, I get ad texts. At least if we ever get ads on toilet paper,I'll feel good wiping with it.

     

  • Reply 15 of 51
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pmallgood View Post

    Next thing you know, Charmin will start selling ad space on every sheet of toilet paper. Its really sickening.


     


    Hey, that's actually not a bad idea at all. And on paper towels, as well.




    They always waste our money printing stupid little designs on them anyway; they may as well sell that space to advertisers to bring their prices down for us.

  • Reply 16 of 51
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member


    I spend a few hours with one the other day it is a form of torture.  Now the awful user experience that is now turns into an even worse one!  Great idea.

  • Reply 17 of 51
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    bigmac2 wrote: »
    You expected something different from a POS device sold below his cost? 

    I expect that Amazon's Car would be slathered in ads... even the headlights would project ads on the road.
  • Reply 18 of 51
    huntercrhuntercr Posts: 140member


    Since Apple owns a patent on Advertisements within the OS, I wonder if Amazon has licensed it...


     


    Link to the patent


     


    Short article on it

  • Reply 19 of 51
    ankleskaterankleskater Posts: 1,287member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    Amazon's ethos is one of the reasons why I don't fear them taking over.  


     


     


    They don't mind doing annoying things like this which means they'll always be the value 


    company but never the premium company.   



     


    Fear them taking over what?

  • Reply 20 of 51
    bigmac2bigmac2 Posts: 639member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


     Cool! Kindle can be used as a point-of-sale terminal?



     


    Of course, you doesn't know the Kindle always being a self service POS for Amazon?

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