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Old 07-04-2009, 11:30 PM   #3
Elfwreck
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Posts: 5,187
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)
Quote:
Amazon wouldn’t risk alienating its loyal Kindle base with dirty tricks like this, so it’s safe to assume it’ll be at least somewhat opt-in.
Never, EVER underestimate what companies are willing to convince themselves their customers will put up with. Especially in regards to advertisements. Blinky web banners are still used, despite how many people hate them, and how ineffective they are. Everyone said paid cable TV couldn't possibly have ads; why would people pay for the shows *and* get stuck with advertising? The cigarette ads in paperbacks were a laughable idea when first suggested--of course no publisher would do that.

If they get the tech & marketing aspects down, they'll put ads in every book they believe will sell with them. They won't tell customers that ads are being inserted; they'll just add them to new books, with whatever formatting they convince themselves customers won't mind.

Possibly, they'll sell the same book in two formats: Ad-free, $9.95; with ads, $7.95. And then some books will appear only in the with-ads format. (Bootleg versions without ads will be uploaded by anonymous readers, and removed from Kindles as they're discovered. Amazon will have created a whole new way to annoy its customers.)

The hard part will be convincing advertisers that paying for bookspace will be worth something more than a web hit. That means the ads have to be invasive and annoying... or include active web links. (Can you purchase content from other sites on Whispernet? Advertisers will very likely insist on that option to make this worth their while.)
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