Quote:
Originally Posted by petrucci
Given that Amazon just rereleased the Kindle DX for 299, I anticipate Sony's device will be very expensive. The DX does not even have the latest e-ink screen. At 299 it is not at all competitive with tablets. I think that Amazon would lower the price if they could.
Larger screen may be just as easy to produce as smaller ones, but they are more costly, because they use more materials, and have a higher rate of defects.
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You think that the price for the DX is new?
Article from 15th October 2012
Quote:
Given the current proliferation of low-cost tablets with full-color, high-resolution screens – including Amazon's own Kindle Fire line – it also wasn't much of a bargain. The original DX debuted in 2009 for $489. Amazon lowered the price to $379 after a 2010 hardware refresh, but that's still $80 more than what an 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD goes for today.
Last week, Amazon quietly lowered the price of the DX to $299 – the same as the aforementioned Kindle Fire HD – in an apparent attempt to clear out its remaining stock.
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According to
wiki:
Quote:
On July 8, 2009, Amazon reduced price of the Kindle 2 from the original $359 to $299.
[...]
On October 22, 2009, Amazon lowered the price on the international version from $279 to $259 and discontinued the U.S.-only model. On June 21, 2010, hours after Barnes & Noble lowered the price of its Nook, Amazon lowered the price of the Kindle 2 to $189.
[...]
Amazon announced the Kindle DX on May 6, 2009.
[...]
On July 1, 2010, Amazon released a new revision of the Kindle DX "Graphite". As well as dropping the price from $489 to $379, the new Kindle DX has an E Ink display with 50% better contrast ratio (due to new E Ink Pearl technology) and comes only in a "graphite" case color.
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So when Amazon priced the DX at $489 the price for the 6" device was $359. You will notice that the price wasn't twice as high.
In 2010 there is a bigger difference between the prices of the 6" and the 9.7" devices, but that is because the prices for the 6" devices were lowered to compete with B&N. If Amazon plans to work on the DX again to compete with Sony you can expect a lower price.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kumabjorn
As a general rule yes, this was mainly due to the expensive yen, in order to hold market shares overseas many manufacturers had Japanese consumers subsidize their exports. However, two factors are in play today, one the yen is coming down, it is now trading around 100 yen to the dollar and I wouldn't be surprised to see it around 120 yen within six months, second they now face massive competition from Korea and China and are slowly realizing that they can not stick to outdated pricing models.
So prices between Japan and their overseas markets are much more in parity than they used to. One caveat though is devices limited to the domestic market. One good example are smartphones. There are lot of smartphones that are not sold outside Japan and they are exorbitantly expensive, but they are sold on plans and the monthly cost is acceptable to the Japanese consumer. Who knows, maybe Sony will release it with a SIM card so you can access Wikipedia.
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It would be good if the price expectations are closer. I expect that one question after the field trial will be: how much would you pay for this device?