Amazon Needs To Show Me A $99 Kindle

[fjtorres]

That's a 50% drop from a few months back when I got mine. Good thing I don't do second-guessing.

[Rich_D]

A reader from a recognizable brand with a price point below $100 will start targeting the casual reader and teenagers/students.

Very few casual readers will frequent a board like this or will do a lot of research on the different makes and models. Neither will many parents, grandparents, etc...

Think about how many would have sold during the Harry Potter phenomenon (if JK Rowling authorized ebooks) or how many could be sold now with the Eclipse saga.

Of course publishers would need to get on board and bring prices in line and possibly adding extra content to an ebook like interviews.

Imagine if it were possible for Amazon, right before the last Harry Potter movie, to offer a Hogwarts edition Kindle pre-loaded with the last book and some sort of extra content for under $100. They wouldn't be able to keep them in stock.

[foreverjuly]

Originally Posted by Rich_D

Imagine if it were possible for Amazon, right before the last Harry Potter movie, to offer a Hogwarts edition Kindle pre-loaded with the last book and some sort of extra content for under $100. They wouldn't be able to keep them in stock.

I think you're dead on with that comment. I could imagine a slew of teens raiding their babysitting/paper route money to buy kindles at that price. I bet it would be the exact kick in the butt needed to push a large portion of adults into the e-reading age as well.

[SensualPoet]

In Canada, Kobo is offered by the leading bricks and mortar bookseller, Chapters/Indigo (they also own abt 60% of Kobo); it's also for sale at Wal-mart Canada ... in both cases for $149.

Sony offers only two editions: the 5" 300 series reader and the 6" Touch reader. Until yesterday, the prices were $200 and up; now, you can save $20 off that if you go to select electronic stores and Sonystyle.

But book buyers -- and this is still a device for actual book readers and not gadget-crazed geeks -- go to book stores (and online bookstores). Sony has little to offer.

And there are virtually no other competitors. Astak Mentor is available in theory for $289 from a leading big box electronic store. I've never seen any other model except Aluratek (at around $150) and it's a clunky beast, locked away where it can't be sampled; nor is it even 2 week battery charge e-ink.

The Kindle 2i is $189+shipping and tied to a very well known book venue. It works well in Canada, with full 3G access, and lots of content in the Amazon store.

There isn't a burning need to launch a $99 reader here; Kobo sells out at $149. There may be some lowering of price as we get closer to the Xmas selling season but unless there is a game-changer new model from Sony, a cheaper edition isn't needed to keep the market expanding and humming.

[J. Strnad]

I don't think we'll have any idea of who the winners and losers are in this battle until DRM dies. And it will. Once that happens, we'll see how it shakes out.

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

I don't think we'll have any idea of who the winners and losers are in this battle until DRM dies. And it will. Once that happens, we'll see how it shakes out.

Will DRM die by the end of this year? Any predictions?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Kris777

Will DRM die by the end of this year? Any predictions?

It'd be nice, but I doubt it.

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

It'd be nice, but I doubt it.

Well, Brazil’s copyright law forbids using DRM to block fair use
http://www.teleread.com/2010/07/12/b...lock-fair-use/

A UN treaty called the WIPO Copyright Treaty requires countries to pass laws protecting “software locks” (also called DRM or TPM). Countries around the world have adopted the treaty in different ways: in the US, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act prohibits all circumvention of software locks, even when they don’t protect copyright (for example, it would be illegal to for me to break the DRM on a Kindle to access my own novels, were they sold with Kindle DRM).

Brazil has just created the best-ever implementation of WCT. In Brazil’s version of the law, you can break DRM without breaking the law, provided you’re not also committing a copyright violation. And what’s more, any rightsholder who adds a DRM that restricts things that are allowed by Brazilian copyright laws (“fair dealing” or “fair use”) faces a fine.

It’s a fine and balanced approach to copyright law: your software locks have the power of law where they act to uphold the law. When they take away rights the law gives, they are themselves illegal.

§1º. The same sanction applies, without prejudice to other sanctions set forth by law, to whom, through whatever means:
a) hinders or prevents the uses allowed by arts. 46, 47 and 48 of this Act [which addresses limitations to copyright including fair dealing]; or

b) hinders or prevents the free use of works, broadcast transmissions and phonograms which have fallen into the public domain

[HarryT]

We already have a thread on the sbject here. Please don't "hijack" this thread to talk about DRM. This thread is talking about $99 Kindles.

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by HarryT

We already have a thread on the sbject here. Please don't "hijack" this thread to talk about DRM. This thread is talking about $99 Kindles.

Sorry, I didn't see this thread. Anyway, I vote for $99 Kindle without DRM

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by Kris777

Sorry, I didn't see this thread. Anyway, I vote for $99 Kindle without DRM

And I vote we bring back the Roosevelts to be president again, but it just ain't in the cards! :-)

[Scott Nicholson]

Most indie authors I know are avoiding DRM where possible...it's your basic "control" issue. It seems the richest people are the ones most worried about losing control.

Scott Nicholson
http://www.hauntedcomputer.com

[avlad]

when vendors start offering color ebookreaders (not that I need one) the price for a 6" black&white ebookreader will surely drop under 100$.
Also, I'm sure that after Kindle 3 will be released, the vendor "war" will lead to many old generation products to be under 100$.

[Hellmark]

When it comes to the Kindle, they're coming closer. The $109 price tag was mighty tempting for the refurb. I almost got one while they were available, if I had that much to spare (despite having and loving my 505)

[foreverjuly]

Originally Posted by Connallmac

And I vote we bring back the Roosevelts to be president again, but it just ain't in the cards! :-)

hahaha, that would be awesome. Somebody needs to write a book about this.

Also, I think avlad has it right. One day we're just going to wake up and the market will be full of $100 refurb older model kindles. That'll happen just before the price of the actual kindle sinks to that because of pressure from color readers.