News - Amazon launches cheaper Kindle with advertising

[HEXUS]

You can save $25 if you can tolerate ‘special offers’ and ‘sponsored screensavers’.

Read more.

[cheesemp]

Just hoping they launch this in the UK soon!

[Saracen]

Just hoping they launch this in the UK soon!

I guess choice is always a good thing, and each to his own, but personally, for $25, or even £25, I'd cheerfully buy the more expensive one to avoid all the advertising.

Though I have to wonder, if you just disable wifi and 3g, and load it up via USB, just how do Amazon propose to get the adverts onto it?

The advertising seems to be based around the screensaver, with companies presenting their special offers on that platform. This means you won't get intrusive ads while you're reading, something that should have been emphasised more in the press release. Apparently there's even an app through which you can vote for your favourite screensaver.

That would be a critical point for me. I might be prepared to put up with screen-saver (.e. the notional "power-off" state) adverts if the cost saving was enough, but if they pop up at random points during use, be it in menu operations or worse yet, while reading, I wouldn't use one of they gave them away. And I certainly wouldn't buy the Ad-sponsored version without a categoric answer to that point.

[finlay666]

Though I have to wonder, if you just disable wifi and 3g, and load it up via USB, just how do Amazon propose to get the adverts onto it?

Buy adding them into the book?

[Saracen]

Buy adding them into the book?

Only helps if you get your books from Amazon, and will annoy people with the non-ad version of the book, and/or means they need to carry two version of each e-book, and serve the right one. And, of course, the adverts can't change, which severely limits the usefuness of it..

Besides, if they are screen-saver only and don't affecting the reading experience, how can they be in the book?

[this_is_gav]

Yes, e-readers are a different technology, usage model and price, but how many people will buy both a tablet and an e-reader?

Anyone with a smidgen of sense, at least until one with a half-suitable screen comes along, or someone who's never seen epaper.

[MonkeyL]

I guess choice is always a good thing, and each to his own, but personally, for $25, or even £25, I'd cheerfully buy the more expensive one to avoid all the advertising.

Same here, I'd happily pay a premium of $25 for no adverts, probably more. The discount isn't good enough to put up with ads (IMHO).

[SiM]

If I didn't already have one, I would save the $25 and then install a different OS. No Kindle OS = No adverts

[bobharvey]

>moving the price of the Kindle into single-figures would make it an easier impulse-purchase,

Yep. I'd buy two if they were less than 9 quid.