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Kindle Pricing, Business Models and Source Code

Posted by Soulskill on from the still-waiting-on-a-price-cut-to-ten-bucks dept.

narramissic writes "A trifecta of Kindle-related news surfaced this week, with Jeff Bezos speaking at Wired's 'Disruptive by Design' conference on topics including Kindle pricing and business models. And yesterday, reports blogger Peter Smith, 'there was a flurry of blogging activity yesterday stating that Amazon had released the Kindle source code. Once everyone caught their breath, it became apparent that the files in question were just some open source libraries that Amazon had modified (they're being good open source citizens and releasing mods they've made to open source code — good for them!), not the complete source code.' Now, back to the Kindle pricing: According to a post at Wired, Bezos said Amazon opted to sell the Kindle for 'something akin to the actual cost for hardware,' rather than subsidizing the hardware costs and requiring a monthly subscription or requiring the buyer to purchase a certain number of books per month because 'fees and minimum purchase requirements create friction.' Smith has a different take: 'If I'm buying a Kindle from Amazon that enables me to buy books from Amazon, I'm broadcasting a desire to buy Kindle books. I would welcome some subsidization of the hardware since I'm going to be buying content anyway. No, I really think Amazon priced the Kindle the way they did because they thought they could get away with doing so (and they were right, it would seem).' Meanwhile, over at the New York Times, Bezos said 'that he sees Kindle-the-device and Kindle-the-book-format as two separate business models, and that the Kindle iPhone App won't be the last software reader to appear.'"

5 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. End of print periodical? by bhsx · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Rupert Murdoch has apparently been watching the Kindle closely and has been planning on coming-out with his own version to give away to subscribers of his newspapers. Perhaps Bezos really did have the timing right with the Kindle and it just MAY unseat a large portion of the print periodical industry. Should be interesting to watch, no matter how it works itself out.

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    put the what in the where?
    1. Re:End of print periodical? by larry+bagina · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe you haven't noticed, but a large portion of the print periodical industry is being unseated without the kindle's help.

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      Do you even lift?

      These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    2. Re:End of print periodical? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Since I purchased my Kindle 2 I have purchased more individual newspapers than I have in the last 5 years. I like the ability to pick up the Wall Street Journal one day and Boston Globe the next. Also during my commute if I see an article in a paper while reading over their shoulder I immediate go to Amazon and buy that days print.

      I think Peter Smith has it wrong and Jeff got it right. I purchased the Kindle at this price point because I was not tied down to any contract. I read a lot of books and with the Kindle I now have them all queued up. Not all of the books were purchased from Amazon. The Pragmatic Programmers is a publisher that gets it and other publishers should take note. I went to there site to see if they were going to off ebooks for the Kindle. Little did I know they already do. I logged into my account and that is when I got an alert telling me that the two ebooks I purchased a year ago have updates. Hmmm... Would be cool if I could trade these in for the Kindle version. BLAM A click of the link and the PDF and Kindle versions were ready for me to download. No extra cost. Now if only Manning and a few other publishers would get this.

  2. Re:Subsidized hardware by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why is it only in the tech-gadget industry that people expect manufacturers to sell items for *less than cost*?

    I know! People would think you were crazy if you suggested selling a razor at below cost to encourage people to buy them and let you make money from the blades.

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    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  3. Not buying Kindle books for my Kindle... by TheMCP · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have a Kindle. I love it. But I'm not buying books from the Kindle store for my Kindle, because they're DRM-encrusted. I'm buying my ebooks from another legitimate source which sells them to me in formats I can convert, and I convert them into Mobi and put them on my Kindle using Calibre.

    So, buying a Kindle does not automatically signal a desire to buy Kindle books. Some of us just like the hardware.