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Originally Posted by jswinden
Amazon no longer has any real competition, therefore they can now set a price that makes a profit rather than subsidizing them as thy have always done prior to now.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xendula
That could indeed be part of the price increase. Also, the market for eink screens is smaller, and die-hard fans of eink will invest in a better device, even if they have tablets or phones.
I couldn't resist and ordered one.
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I think you've hit it on the head. In the US at least, Amazon is really the last major player standing in e-ink. B&N seems to have abandoned development along that line, and the last two iterations there, the NOOK Simple Touch Glow and GlowLight, didn't exactly shake my boots.
Kobo is a viable alternative, but the US seems an afterthought to them. Sony is also pretty much done here.
Anything else has always been a minor player.
Amazon's Kindle brand basically owns the dedicated e-ink reader market in the US, so it doesn't surprise me that they're introduced a higher end model. Keep in mind, with this intro, the e-ink models cover a range of price points, from the basic $79 Kindle touch to the mid-range Paperwhite to the $199 Voyager. Even at $219 (sans ads), that's still cheaper than what I gladly paid for my Nook N1E when they first came out. Though honestly, if I went Kindle at this point, it would probably be the Paperwhite.
But that's a worry for when the NST gives up the ghost.