RSSWith Kindles back in stock, Amazon drops price of ebook reader
By Nate Mook | Published May 27, 2008, 1:01 PM
Amazon has struggled to keep up with orders for its Kindle electronic book reader since the device debuted just before Thanksgiving, but with inventory back on hand, the retailer has lowered the price by 10 percent.
Wait times for customers to receive their Kindle sometimes reached months, leading Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to publish an open letter on the company's homepage in which he apologized for the delays. "We didn't expect the demand that actually materialized," Bezos wrote in March.
Inventory finally caught up with demand late last month and Bezos promised that shipments would start up again soon. Now, Amazon is reporting no further delays and has cut the price of the Kindle from $399 to $349 USD. The company is also offering free two-day shipping for all Kindle orders, which it has done since launch.
Because Amazon doesn't charge customers until their product ships, those who were waiting for their Kindle to arrive should be eligible to pay the lower price tag. The company also provides price matching for those who ordered within the past 30 days.
Even at $349, the Kindle is more expensive than Sony's $299 Reader device, however it does include free 3G wireless connectivity for purchasing books and surfing the Web. Amazon's ebooks also do not work with the Sony Reader unless they are first converted to PDF.
The Kindle features a 6-inch screen able to display 800x600 resolution, 256 MB internal memory, SD slot capable of holding up to a 4 GB memory stick, mini USB, keyboard cursor, full QWERTY keyboard, 3.5 mm headphone jack, and EV-DO connectivity for downloading books from Amazon's store.
Furthermore, the device measures 4.9" x 7.5" x 0.7" and weighs 10.2 ounces. Up to 200 titles can be stored using the 256 MB of internal memory, with countless other titles available using an SD memory card.
CamelCamelCamel (http://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B000FI73MA) knew about this price drop immediately: I got an email from this site like 2 seconds after it happened.
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Even though I would truly love to have a portable eBook reader, there is not a chance I am going to spend all that money on a proprietary system that doesn't even offer the same advantages a standard paperback does... namely, the ability to loan, give and/or sell my old books to others.
No offense, but, no sale.
Sorry.
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+1
I just can't see the sense in having an overpriced one trick pony.
I'll stick to reading on my PDA, from a variety of formats & sources.
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It may replace newspapers and some magazines but even at $349 we'll never find out. This has to be under $200 to be anything more than a niche toy for the affluent.
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I have had my Kindle for several months and love it!!
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12.5% off, to be more precise. Sheesh, I'm being technical.
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Actually it's more like 12.53% (and change), since the original price was not $ 400 but $ 399, which, as everybody knows, is A LOT less than $ 400
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