Amazon's New Ad-Supported Kindle
posted Wednesday Apr 13, 2011 by Scott Ertz
It's amazing how much Amazon has been in the news lately. First Instant Video booming part of Prime, then their Appstore followed by an Apple lawsuit over said store and now a new Kindle. That's right, there is another Kindle in the works.
What does this model have that the others don't? Ads, of course! Yeah, the new Kindle that is currently in production will be ad-supported. The good news, I suppose, is that the device will be less expensive than previous Kindles. You can also assume it will be lacking in features as well. How much can you save for seeing ads on your eBook reader? A whole $25!
Where and when can you expect ads on your new Kindle? Hit the break to find out.
The good news is you will not have to suffer through them while trying to read. Tell me that wouldn't have been obnoxious. Luckily you will only have to see them on the Kindle homepage, the location where readers choose what they will read, and on the screen saver when the device is off.
Some marketers have been looking into giving ad consumers free ebooks for doing whatever the ad wants you to do. Others have considered running videos before a book opens or on the borders of the page. Amazon themselves will also use some of the ad space, offering things like half-priced Amazon gift cards or $1 music albums. That might make up for the annoyance of ads on the device.
The new model will start shipping May 3rd and will be identical to the current entry-level model, including WiFi access. The current model runs $139 and the ad-supported device will run you $114.
The important question here is, would you be willing endure ads in favor of a lower-priced device, or is it not worth the $25 to you? If not, would a bigger discount change your mind? Let us know in the comments section.
