Tonight Amazon introduced a new Kindle. Set to ship August 27th, the new revision is 21% smaller and 15% lighter than its predecessor. The new unit will ship with an display E Ink that has a 20% faster refresh rate.
The unit will also have two wireless options: a $139 WiFi only version and a $189 3G version. Storage has been increased to 4GB.
Let the eBook price wars continue!
Tags: Amazon, Kindle, ebook, price war, ebook sales, reading, trends
Amazon plans to introduce a new version of their Kindle e-book reader in August. However after a recent price cut just three weeks ago, Amazon is now out of their current Kindle and their site suggests a new model is on the way.
The device is rumored to be even thinner an updated refresh screen and enhanced imaging. The new Kindle will remain greyscale and will not support a touch screen….but may include apps.
Tags: Amazon, Kindle, ebook, price war, ebook sales, reading, trends
Want to confuse customers? How about taking the “if ya can’t beat`em, join`em” approach….
I wonder what Bezos thinks about when you pull this type of capitulation. I cannot help but wonder about Amazon’s own statement: NO KINDLE REQUIRED. If anyone sees this add and is deciding which to choose, this move by Amazon cements the iPad as the choice.
BTW: Did you catch the color image in the book?
Tags: iPad, Kindle, ebook, price war, ebook sales, reading, trends
So what happens when Apple’s $500 iPad sells like mad? Well a price war of course between the Nook and Amazon’s Kindle.
It appears that Apple has produced a product that consumers have been wanting and are willing to pay quite a premium. But at the same time Apple has cut into Amazon’s ownership of eBook sales. The problem with both of the above devices – they are not color. Think about purchasing a dedicated eReader that cannot produce color, and is only available for, well….reading….despite Amazon’s attempts to open the Kindle platform with an API and goals of an iTunes-like store.
Amazon left their newer Kindle DX at $500.00
Tags: iPad, Kindle, Nook, price war, ebook sales, reading, trends
Chris Anderson visits Google to present his book “Free” This event took place on July 9, 2009, as part of the Authors@Google series. My book review of Free.
From the Google Author Series:
He makes the compelling case that in many instances businesses can profit more from giving things away than they can by charging for them. Far more than a promotional gimmick, Free is a business strategy that may well be essential to a company’s survival.
The costs associated with the growing online economy are trending toward zero at an incredible rate. Never in the course of human history have the primary inputs to an industrial economy fallen in price so fast and for so long. Just think that in 1961, a single transistor cost $10; now Intel’s latest chip has two billion transistors and sells for $300 (or 0.000015 cents per transistor–effectively too cheap to price). The traditional economics of scarcity just don’t apply to bandwidth, processing power, and hard-drive storage.
Yet this is just one engine behind the new Free, a reality that goes beyond a marketing gimmick or a cross-subsidy. Anderson also points to the growth of the reputation economy; explains different models for unleashing the power of Free; and shows how to compete when your competitors are giving away what you’re trying to sell.
I found Chris’ idea really is not so radical given today’s economy. It will benefit those companies smart enough to recognize the innovative opportunity to grow their customer base.
Tags: Chris Anderson, Free: The future of a Radical Price, marketing, Google Author, copyright, internet, economy, innovation, ideas, business, radical, reading, trends