Quote:
Originally Posted by Alisa
I'd be curious to see how much it adds. I don't think it's very much. The hardware isn't expensive. I would imagine they pay a certain amount per Kindle for activation, but likely far less than the $25 consumers pay. The delivery charges are probably pretty small, too. They probably pay by bandwidth at a highly discounted rate. Books are small.
Personally, I find it worth it to be able to get books pretty much anywhere (as long as I'm in the US which I mostly am) without having to find a hotspot. My husband commutes on the train and it's great for him to be able to get his books when he wants them. When I first heard about the wireless thing, I wasn't really swayed. It seemed to be there to make it easy for people who weren't comfortable loading their books via USB. I saw it as a luxury and figured I'd hardly use it. In the long run I think it's a money saver in combination with the free samples. I never buy a book until I've read the sample. I read a lot of samples and don't buy the book. If I had to plan my book buying around when I had a computer or wireless access, I would be buying books ahead of time and, as I did before I had my Kindle, buying many books I didn't like. Even if you figure that wireless access cost me $50 more, that's made up by five regretted purchases. $100? (Doubtful.) That's ten. Fewer, if you consider that I bought lots of new releases before. That's a few months at most of book shopping in my old style. Not total books. Just the ones I didn't end up wanting. I bet most people would break even on it in less than a year easily, even if they weren't as wasteful as I used to be. I've read more books since I've had the Kindle and spent less money by far than I used to. The combination of the wireless and the samples are a huge part of that. Samples alone without wireless would help, but I would still be more tempted to buy ahead of time than I am knowing that I can always get my book right when I finish the sample.
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Dear all:
Just as a rough guide, here are the additional costs to add certain features to a device. These are MANUFACTURER COSTS:
Touchscreen.......... about $83 more
3G........................ about $65 more just to add the mechanicals.
Wi-Fi..................... about $14 more
Buletooth................. about $8 more
All I am trying to convey is that you are paying for the additional features and it can add up relatively quickly.
Robert B.