Amazon drops cost of ad-supported 3G Kindle as e-readers near generational shift
In a veritable repeat of the events of 2010, Amazon on Wednesday dropped the cost of its 3G-equipped Kindle with Special Offers to $164 after new, cheaper Kobo and Nook e-readers were debuted by its competitors.
Kobo, the e-reader brand associated with Borders and Indigo bookstores debuted a new 6" touchscreen e-reader on Monday called Kobo eReader Touch Edition. The new device cost $129.99, and last year's Kobo model dropped in price to $99.
The next day, Barnes and Noble launched its 6" touchscreen e-reader called Nook Simple Touch, which carried a pricetag of $139.99. At the same time, the bookseller began liquidating its stock of first generation Nooks on eBay.
The price? $99
Amazon, meanwhile, announced that it had dropped the price of its popular ad-supported 3G Kindle with Special Offers from $189 to $164. The retailer claimed this $25 price cut makes it the lowest priced 3G-equipped e-reader available.
"Kindle is the bestselling e-reader in the world. It's been just six weeks since we introduced the new $114 Kindle with Special Offers, and already customers have made it the bestselling member of the Kindle family," said Jay Marine, Director, Amazon Kindle. "In response to customer requests, we're now making these money-saving special offers available for Kindle 3G."
These events are an echo of the ones that took place last year. Kobo launched its $149 e-reader, then a month later, Barnes and Noble slashed the price of the Nook, and Amazon slashed the price of the Kindle on the very same day.
Just one month later, the third generatioin Kindle debuted.
Though Amazon has not revealed any plans about its next-gen Kindle, it is approaching the point in the year where it could reveal a new product.