The catch? The discounted device, called Kindle With Special Offers, is ad-supported.
That's right. If you spring for this particular Wi-Fi-only Kindle you will have to overlook ads on the screensaver and home page.
Personally I'm not a fan of this move, primarily for three reasons:
- The advantage of an e-reader over a laptop or desktop computer is to have that immersive experience that's more akin to a physical book. Having ads on the device (even though they apparently aren't going to appear in the books themselves) could be seen as intrusive and deter potential buyers.
- The price is only $25 less than the ad-free Kindle, which is not all that much. Granted, a 17% discount is respectable, but $25 may be a small price to pay for a lot of e-reader fans. Bottom line is the price point needs to be lower, and TechCrunch actually wrote up a great piece about the impact a $99 Kindle would have had.
- From an advertisers' standpoint, I wonder how effective the ads can be if they're only on the home screen and screen savers, where the users will be spending little time paying attention to what's on the screen.
All in all, it's a questionable move that would have been better if the price point was more appealing.
However, my guess is that most people would just pay the $25 for a reading experience that doesn't include advertising.