Heck yea! $79 dollars for an eReader? I have an iPad, am the cheapest person I know, and I'm tempted to get one. I think this will be the device that will knock a lot of people off the should-I-get-an-eReader fence. That means more people wanting ebooks, a lot more. Writers sold a lot of ebooks last year but I predict that this Christmas will make last year seem anemic by comparison.
Articles about Amazon's announcement are all over the web, but here's the news:
When Amazon gathered technology and publishing journalists for a press conference in New York on Wednesday, there was a buzz of excitement. The online bookseller was ready to debut its long-rumored tablet, the Kindle Fire.Read more here: Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet, new e-readers target low-cost market
The product itself wasn't all that exciting: it's a lot like the iPad, in that it can play movies and music. It retains its bookish roots by storing media on virtual shelves (pictured, right). The real news about the Kindle Fire is its bargain-basement price: $199.
That was the upshot of all the devices Amazon's Jeff Bezos presented: familiar, but cheaper.
$79 Kindle: Like the established and popular Kindle, but lighter and without the keyboard across the bottom (photo, at left).The tactic Amazon seems to be taking is creating its own versions of established products and selling them for irresistibly low prices.
$99 Kindle Touch: Like the Nook or Kobo, control of the Kindle touch is on the screen. It's an e-reader only, and, for a few dollars more, can be ad-free ($139) and connect with 3G ($159). See our Technology Blog for more info.
$199 Kindle Fire: A full-color multimedia tablet. Some say it's positioned to be an iPad killer; others say its low price will crash the rest of the tablet market. See our Technology Blog's report on the Kindle Fire.
I'm more stoked about the kindle touch than the other two, but I agree that the cheap Kindle will go a long way towards bridging the digital divide. It's much harder to resist getting a replacement for that big bookshelf when it's so cheap.
ReplyDeleteHooray for ereading.
Hi Michael, thanks for the comment!
ReplyDeleteAgreed, I think that these low, LOW, prices are going to convince many folks to do what I did when I moved a few months ago: donate the majority of their pulp and paper books to the local library, or sell them to a used book shop. For me it wasn't just that I didn't want to lug 10 BIG boxes of books to a new location, I've found that I prefer to read books on an eReader. One of my friends was appalled when I told her that, but it's true!