Amazon's Top-Selling Kindle Has Ads

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
75,399
Amazon must be pushing the e-readers for the masses concept when it released the newest version of Kindle last month. The concept is simple: Sell an e-reader with ‘special offers and sponsored screensavers’, commonly called ads for the low price of $114 and watch the profits soar.

The popular e-reader has clearly been an important product for Amazon, and one analyst predicted that revenue generated from the device will top $5 billion in 2011.
Click to expand...
 
Not only did I get one for the G-Ma on Mothers Day, I found the Ads to be unobtrusive. They are only on the lock screen and at the very bottom when looking through your collection. The ads also don't look bad. Worth it to save $25 IMO.
 
So long as they don't intrude upon my reading, I really wouldn't mind.
 
SparkedFire said:
Not only did I get one for the G-Ma on Mothers Day, I found the Ads to be unobtrusive. They are only on the lock screen and at the very bottom when looking through your collection. The ads also don't look bad. Worth it to save $25 IMO.
Click to expand...

Problem is you and I both know that as soon as they're sure people are comfortable with ads the next version will come out with ads at full pricing.
 
TheGamerZ said:
So long as they don't intrude upon my reading, I really wouldn't mind.
Click to expand...

Nahh... it's not bad. I was reading A Tale of Two Cites and it went like this.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

"Having trouble deciding what's going on in your life? Trying to decide which direction to go in? Call Chase for all your personal banking needs we'll help you through the best and worst of times."

Just skip every second paragraph and the ads won't bother you at all.
 
Ualdayan said:
Problem is you and I both know that as soon as they're sure people are comfortable with ads the next version will come out with ads at full pricing.
Click to expand...

+1, I never thought this would work. Everyone complains about product placements and ads all the time yet they are will to give up on those complaints for a messily $25? I'd most certainly pay an extra $25 for an ad free cable package or Internet service. No way I'd take a $25 discount in exchange for ads.
 
The ads do not appear on the reading screens. Only the home screen and when the screen is locked as the screen saver.

I wish they made the "special offer" kindle about $99. Then it would be a steal.
 
It's a brand new service, so I'd expect even more adds as it becomes popular.
 
Incrementalism, the finest way of suckering the American public into doing damn near anything you need. Small ads, good, little bit bigger, no problem, we're already addicted.

More pat down searches, hey if it keeps us safe...x-ray scanners *cry cry* but ooook if you say so.
 
N1GHTRA1N said:
+1, I never thought this would work. Everyone complains about product placements and ads all the time yet they are will to give up on those complaints for a messily $25? I'd most certainly pay an extra $25 for an ad free cable package or Internet service. No way I'd take a $25 discount in exchange for ads.
Click to expand...


Agreed 100%

People are way to quick to pimp themselves out for a literal few dollars these days. Makes me ill.
 
I wonder how long it'll be before we see ads promoting the Taliban.

"Tired of paying taxes? Don't like your government? Is your neighborhood full of infidels?"




Oh and of course, there would be a monetary exchange, so there's no way Amazon would refuse.
 
I assume the ads change from time to time and there is where I have a problem. Aren’t we monitored enough as it is?

Next I’d imagine someone will find a way to slip a GPS program in there somewhere, you know, just to check up on you, make sure you are ok…See what you are reading and where.

No thanks.
 
This thread is an excellent example of FUD and ignorance triumphing over reason.
 
Ualdayan said:
Problem is you and I both know that as soon as they're sure people are comfortable with ads the next version will come out with ads at full pricing.
Click to expand...
Doubtful. Amazon can't be getting anywhere near $25/kindle worth of ad revenue; as long as the ad free ones are more profitable they'll keep selling them.
 
DanNeely said:
Doubtful. Amazon can't be getting anywhere near $25/kindle worth of ad revenue; as long as the ad free ones are more profitable they'll keep selling them.
Click to expand...

Over the life of the device I would say otherwise. Look at the subsidies on cell phones and the fact Android is already turning a huge profit fir Google from what I have read.
 
nobody_here said:
People are way to quick to pimp themselves out for a literal few dollars these days. Makes me ill.
Click to expand...
Your statement makes no sense to me. How are people "pimping themselves out" when they look at an ad?

DanNeely said:
Doubtful. Amazon can't be getting anywhere near $25/kindle worth of ad revenue; as long as the ad free ones are more profitable they'll keep selling them.
Click to expand...
Depends on who's advertising. Apple charges millions for advertisers to publish iAds on iPhones, iPads and iPod touches. They can do so because an iAd is highly-visible, attracts large companies with large ad budgets and is always the only ad on display at any given time. Basically the same deal with Kindle.
 
phide said:
Your statement makes no sense to me. How are people "pimping themselves out" when they look at an ad?
Click to expand...

By accepting a $25 discount in exchange for having the ads placed in their face. If I want a product I will research it and search for deals if I want a deal. I don't want to look at an ad for some random product when I am not actively trying to find it.

That's what it means.
 
Yeah all of you who are fine with it just wait, its gonna come back and bite you in the ass later. You give them and inch now and thats gonna open up the door for unbelievable bullshit.
 
nobody_here said:
Over the life of the device I would say otherwise. Look at the subsidies on cell phones and the fact Android is already turning a huge profit fir Google from what I have read.
Click to expand...
Cell phone subsidies are from your monthly contract, noone is paying $40-80/mo in service fees for a Kindle. Normal online ads typically pay around 0.1c per impression. That's a huge number of ads to cover a $25 subsidy. Especially since the ads are only shown on the main navigation page and when the device goes into standby. The only way I could see them recovering the subsidy is if they were to put ads on every single screen of the books themselves.
 
chaikovski2002 said:
Yeah all of you who are fine with it just wait, its gonna come back and bite you in the ass later. You give them and inch now and thats gonna open up the door for unbelievable bullshit.
Click to expand...

It really is amazing the total lack of reason some people have the MINUTE they hear Ads... Yet each day, on just about everything you own, you have to put up with Ads... For your paid Cable, for your Radio Stations, hell they show up as Previews on some of the DVD/Blu-Ray's that you buy, and sometimes you can skip and somethings you cannot.

Now I didn't get the 114 dollar one, I got the 189 dollar one, but that 25 dollar savings for ads where they place them is worth it if you do consider the 139 version. You may ask why and I will tell you. Take that 25.00 dollars you saved and by some books with it. You maybe able to by up to 6-7 or more books depending on the specials.

My co-worker across the isle has the Ad enable Kindle and it only shows when its off or when you are on the home screen looking for the next book, or when its off... Right now when mine is off it shows a Picture of some Authors and such, almost an Ad if you think about it. Plus when you select a book, it does not ever show an Ad while reading... EVER. I didn't see the paper work, but he said that the Ad's are in the TOS and are only displayed in those two area's.

So for those that say you give them an inch they will take a mile are not always right. I do agree that $99 would be a better price, but that 25 dollar break may be the key to letting a few more people use the device. The Kindle 1 was 399, the Kindle 2 was 259 and now the Kindle 3 3G version is 189 and the screen difference between 2 and 3 is amazing.... It makes the Kindle 2 screen look like crap.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/08/photos-putting-kindle-2-and-kindle-3-head-to-head/?pid=82

Microscopic view of the K2 vs the K3

http://www.bit-101.com/blog/?p=2750

So if you are able to deal with a few ads that are really place in only 2 places, one you won't really see if you have a cover for your Kindle, the other on the Home Screen and its not a huge ad, Just a fairly small strip on the bottom, then save the 25 dollars and spend that on some books to get that library growing!!
 
I had to double-take reading the title, I first thought it said "Amazon's Top-Selling Kindle Has Aids"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top