Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
I think Amazon has been the one leading the race to the bottom in hardware sales: remember , the $79 kindle 4 and the $199 kindle fire?
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The $79 Kindle (with Special Offers) comes with an ad subscription bundled in. If you don't want them, you get to pay another $30 to revert to the *baseline* config.
I don't see a $30 discount for watching ads as a bad deal, but neither do I see the actual price I pay as *only* $79. Rather, I see it as *selling* my eyeballs for that discount. It's not that I necessarily mind the ads, but I do like clear book-keeping, so for me I see *two* transactions; one for the reader and one for the ads and special offers.
Just like the *free* Nooks you get with the NYT subscription, the fine print makes it clear you're paying $240 for a 2 year digital subscription + a $100 discount coupon you can apply to the STR or the NC. Or consider the Audible deal at Amazon that gives you $100 to apply to most any compatible device (Kindle, media player, whatever).
When things look too good to be true, they usually are. Mind the fine print to avoid heartburn.
In my book, Kindle prices are $109, $139, $189. (Plus $199 for FIRE.)
Not very different from 2010, really.
The rest is just a promo discount to build up their online ad business and (in the case of Fire) Prime just as the NYT is giving B&N customers a (temporary) discount to build their subscriptions.