AfterDawn: News

Amazon to sell ad-subsidized $114 Kindle reader

Amazon has announced today it will begin selling an ad-subsidized Kindle reader for $114, a full $25 discount off the regular price for the latest generation of Wi-Fi e-readers.

The new "Kindle with Special Offer" will, as promised, give consumers special offers and will also show ads as screensavers when you are not actively using the device.



A few of the "Special Offers" are actually very nice, including $10 off a $20 Amazon gift card and $1 for a full album via Amazon MP3.

Amazon says its first launch partners for ads are Chase, Visa, Olay and Buick.

Says the company: "Lower-price sponsored ad strategy will serve us well and make us an attractive option to the widest possible group of people."

Pre-orders start today and the e-reader hits on May 3rd.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 12 Apr 2011 0:16

• Previous article

• Sony settles with Geohot over PS3 hacking case

• Next article

• Angry Birds is now top-selling PSN game, ever

• 6 comments

• slackdast

  lame. Sell it for half price, or give it away free. But $25 off and have to see ads?
  
  Screw you Amazon.

  12.4.2011 01:04 #1

• KSib

  25 bucks? Why bother.
  

  12.4.2011 02:05 #2

• yallarehaters (unverified)

  really, you retards are complaining about $25 off of a 140 device?? Stop living off daddys money and understand the real world and ull see this is a great thing from amazon

  12.4.2011 03:49 #3

• ZippyDSM

  er....... make it 70$ and it will actually sale to more of the mouth breathers who are clueless about such devices.....
  

  Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
  Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
  http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

  12.4.2011 13:51 #4

• ZippyDSM

  er....... make it 70$ and it will actually sale to more of the mouth breathers who are clueless about such devices.....
  

  Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
  Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
  http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

  12.4.2011 13:51 #5

• Xian

  From what I read it is only going to display ads on the screensaver and the home page. I only see the screensaver when I am turning it on and only go to the home page when I want to change the book that I am reading so that does not sound very obtrusive. I think they should have went to $99 though for an ad supported version if not less.
  
  I ran the Opera browser for a while in ad supported mode back before it was free and they only displayed a small ad, less than what you see on many web sites.
  
  I just wonder how they are going to get the ads on your Kindle? I leave my wireless turned off unless I am buying a book to increase the battery life, so unless they do it during that brief time, it would be hard to push down new ads. I already have a Kindle so it really doesn't matter to me, but I like that they offer the option of getting a cheaper version if you are willing to put up with some ads. If you don't, then pay the $25 more to avoid them.

  12.4.2011 17:09 #6