Lock & home screen ads aid Amazon's aggressive pricing of Kindle Fire HD

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
Amazon's new Kindle Fire HD undercuts the competition by presenting advertisements to users on both the device's lock screen and home screen, helping to subsidize its low price.

Fire


Customers who buy a Kindle Fire HD will receive "special offers and sponsored screensavers" on the device. Amazon has said that the advertisements display on the lock screen and in the lower left-hand corner of the home screen, but they will not interrupt use of the device.

The "Kindle with Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers" is only available in the U.S., which makes international availability and pricing of the new Kindle Fire HD unclear.

Advertisements presented on the Kindle Fire HD will include movie, music and book covers for upcoming titles. Customers will also be shown deals for digital content, such as top-rated Kindle books for $1, or $5 to spend on the Amazon MP3 store.

Amazon also said it will offer customers discounted pricing on consumer electronics. One potential advertisement would be to save up to $500 on select HDTVs.

Fire Ads


Unlike with the e-ink-based Kindles, which allow customers to pay extra to remove advertising from their device, it does not appear that a "Without Special Orders" model of the Kindle Fire HD is available.

At his company's press conference on Thursday, Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos made a clear distinction between his company and Apple, noting that Amazon offers customers and makes money off of "services" rather than "gadgets." Amazon's intent with its Kindle hardware lineup is to push e-books and other digital ? as well as physical ? content sold through the online retailer.

"People don't want gadgets anymore," Bezos said on Thursday. "They want services."

Amazon's business model is of course very different from Apple, which achieves strong margins on its hardware sales, while executives have said that digital content sold through iTunes and the App Store is essentially a break-even business. While Amazon's hardware exists to sell goods, Apple uses apps, music and movies to enhance the ecosystem of its devices.

On Friday, Wall Street analyst Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee said he's concerned about Amazon's low-margin business model. Last year, it was believed that Amazon was actually losing money on each first-generation Kindle Fire it sold.

"We question the company's stance where it believes it can make profits on content is the right business model," Wu said, "as reselling someone else's content has historically proven to not be a very profitable venture."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 146


    The advertisements throughout Kindle's OS are advertised as a feature on Best Buy shelves.


     


    A featureimage




    Edit: All right, Just_Me, if this is trolling, care to show pictures of Best Buy cards that don't show this? Or perhaps an intelligent, sourced argument as to why OS-level advertisements that cannot be removed or hidden are good? I'm willing to be shown that I'm wrong in not wanting to be spammed while using a device, and I'm willing to be shown that I'm wrong in wanting a device, too, but the latter will take some serious work. Amazon's deluded as all get out.

  • Reply 2 of 146
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member


    I wonder how long it will take hackers to jailbreak the device. Or maybe they won't even bother.

  • Reply 3 of 146

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    The advertisements throughout Kindle's OS are advertised as a feature on Best Buy shelves.


     


    A featureimage



     


    I for one am glad that Apple doesn't copy features (like that especially).


     


    Maybe Samsung will feel inspired to use the idea. I can only hope.

  • Reply 4 of 146


    We all know someone will come up with a hack to allow the removal of all the ads, if they can hack the iphone with all the smart apple engineers who have failed to stop it, you know Amazon bright crews will be no match for the hackers. 


     


    I will make this prediction, if the hackers do not come up a no ad solution, that just tells you it was not worth their time since not enough people are even interested in the product.

  • Reply 5 of 146

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    I wonder how long it will take hackers to jailbreak the device. Or maybe they won't even bother.



    You beat me to it. thought the exact same thing

  • Reply 6 of 146
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    "People don't want gadgets anymore," Bezos said on Thursday. "They want services."

    Something tells me he hasn't given a citation for that. Why does he offer gadgets then?

    The advertisements throughout Kindle's OS are advertised as a feature on Best Buy shelves.

    A feature:lol:


    Edit: All right, Just_Me, if this is trolling, care to show pictures of Best Buy cards that don't show this? Or perhaps an intelligent, sourced argument as to why OS-level advertisements that cannot be removed or hidden are good? I'm willing to be shown that I'm wrong in not wanting to be spammed while using a device, and I'm willing to be shown that I'm wrong in wanting a device, too, but the latter will take some serious work. Amazon's deluded as all get out.

    Yeah, I didn't understand that either.

    The previous ad subsidy on the Kindle was an option, where you can get the device ad-supported or not. Now, if this is true, if you want the device, you get the ads, no option to pay more without.

    The web store supports your claim:
    http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Amazon+-+Kindle+Touch+with+Special+Offers/2506155.p?id=1218425939738&skuId=2506155&st=kindle&cp=1&lp=2
    Product Features
    Special offers
    Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers display on Kindle Touch when you're not reading.
  • Reply 7 of 146

    Quote:


    "People don't want gadgets anymore," Bezos said on Thursday. "They want services." - Jeff Bezos



     


    Here I thought you were smart Jeff, people want both, people always want both.  

  • Reply 8 of 146


    Originally Posted by Maestro64 View Post


    I will make this prediction, if the hackers do not come up a no ad solution, that just tells you it was not worth their time since not enough people are even interested in the product.



     


    Sounds good in practice, but even the first-gen iPhone got a native install of Android 1.6 (and 2.2 on the 3G). There's NO market for that, and it still happened… image

  • Reply 9 of 146


    I think I'd rather pay more than go for something cheap and constantly be bombarded with ads.

  • Reply 10 of 146


     


    THAT'S what it says! Thanks; I couldn't remember. 

  • Reply 11 of 146


    Who are these people you speak of, Jeff?  The ones who don't want gadgets?


     


    I admire Jeff Bezos, he's a great entrepreneur.  But he's out of his league on this, I'm afraid.

  • Reply 12 of 146

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Maestro64 View Post


    We all know someone will come up with a hack to allow the removal of all the ads, if they can hack the iphone with all the smart apple engineers who have failed to stop it, you know Amazon bright crews will be no match for the hackers. 


     


    I will make this prediction, if the hackers do not come up a no ad solution, that just tells you it was not worth their time since not enough people are even interested in the product.



     


    They may be able to root and format it with a base Android OS, but the drivers will never work quite right with the Amazon proprietary hardware components. The entire Amazon modified OS on the device is closely connected to the Amazon servers, and likely communicate to verify the authenticity of the software regularly while connected to the internet. The only way I see removing the ads and maintaining a functional Amazon device is if it operated in permanent Airplane mode, which would not be very useful.


     


    For the price, it is more economical to buy a Google/Samsung/Motorola Tablet designed for Android then to try to hack this and get any real use from the buggy modification without Ads.

  • Reply 13 of 146
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    The advertisements throughout Kindle's OS are advertised as a feature on Best Buy shelves.


     


    A featureimage




    Edit: All right, Just_Me, if this is trolling, care to show pictures of Best Buy cards that don't show this? Or perhaps an intelligent, sourced argument as to why OS-level advertisements that cannot be removed or hidden are good? I'm willing to be shown that I'm wrong in not wanting to be spammed while using a device, and I'm willing to be shown that I'm wrong in wanting a device, too, but the latter will take some serious work. Amazon's deluded as all get out.



    i've read some of the features are special coupons for Mac's. Like in saving hundreds of $$$

  • Reply 14 of 146
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by j1h15233 View Post


    I think I'd rather pay more than go for something cheap and constantly be bombarded with ads.



    I knew there was something fishy about this product. I wonder if the ads are sent to your device using up your data plan when on cellular.

  • Reply 15 of 146

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by al_bundy View Post


    i've read some of the features are special coupons for Mac's. Like in saving hundreds of $$$



    It would be ironic if an ad was displayed for a discount on an iPad.

  • Reply 16 of 146

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post





    Something tells me he hasn't given a citation for that.

    Yeah, I didn't understand that either.

    The previous ad subsidy on the Kindle was an option, where you can get the device ad-supported or not. Now, if this is true, if you want the device, you get the ads, no option to pay more without.

    The web store supports your claim:

    http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Amazon+-+Kindle+Touch+with+Special+Offers/2506155.p?id=1218425939738&skuId=2506155&st=kindle&cp=1&lp=2


    A good Ad can be a great thing with lots of benefits.

  • Reply 17 of 146
    haarhaar Posts: 563member
    sorry.. but jeff beszos is TROLL, on stage no less! he is an ***h*le right ? PEOPLE DONT WANT GADGETS. thats right ... LOL amazon sells GADGETS...
    well, i am annoyed that he is bsing about apple selling gadgets... right... iPod iPhone iMac all gadgets?... but the reality is that apple has made it fortune by offering more than gadgets! the phones offered before the iPhone were "gadgets"... ie people tried live with them... but could not ... it was only a phone .
    of course RIM's blackberry was the first phone that was livable with... yet was for business..
    for every-day-life the iPhone is the ticket. and why it is king... and yes there are other "life phones" but only after Apple showed how to do it.

    TL;DR. ... on stage jeff bezos is a wannabe "steve jobs"... a wanna be apple clone..

    /rant...
  • Reply 18 of 146


    Its already been confirmed that the advertising can be removed on these new kindles, so it really isn't a big deal...

  • Reply 19 of 146

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    I knew there was something fishy about this product. I wonder if the ads are sent to your device using up your data plan when on cellular.



    My bet is that they are all preloaded and updated with each software/OS update, so that the ads can still play continuously without an Internet connection.

  • Reply 20 of 146

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Baka-Dubbs View Post


    Its already been confirmed that the advertising can be removed on these new kindles, so it really isn't a big deal...



    Link?

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