Price Of Amazon Kindle Falls To $189

By Peter Lavelle

22 June 2010 12:03 GMT
Image: McLibrary.Duke.Edu

Amazon.com has responded to Barns & Noble's slashing the price of its Nook 3G eReader but dropping $60 from the price of the Kindle, potentially sparking an e-reader price war.

Amazon's Kindle eReader

Amazon.com has slashed $60 from the price of its Kindle eReader, bringing the device down to $189. The price cut has been widely interpreted as a response to Barns & Noble's recently cutting $50 from its Nook 3G eReader. The Nook 3G now costs $199.

The price cuts are obviously great news for consumers, who presently enjoy a variety of e-reader choices. Alternate products include:

• Barns and Noble's WiFi-only Nook, costing $149
• Sony's Digital Reader, costing $149
• Estaco Jbl-en's eReader, costing $129
• Bookeen Cybook's eReader, costing $200
• Apple's iPad, costing $499
• HP's Slate, costing $549
  

Numerous commentators have noted though that this glut is not sustainable. Every price cut after all brings down the profitability of e-readers. Hence it is almost inevitable that before long certain products will be discontinued.

Consumers therefore have two options: choose from the existing range of e-readers and risk buying a product that will soon be obsolete, or wait eighteen months and choose from a smaller range of hopefully superior items! Either way it will be interesting to see which e-readers emerge victorious.

Sources

David Carnoy, 'Amazon Drops Kindle Price To $189,' Cnet.com, 21 June 2010.