Kindle, WiFi Only, 139 USD. Price war?

[DaveSimmons]

Great price for the new wifi-only Kindles.

I'm still happy with my $189 3G model. It's too bad most publishers are trying to price ebooks like hardcovers, but at least baen.com gets how pricing should be -- $6 or less for all titles, even those only out in hardcover.

 

[aceO07]

Once ebook prices drop, then more people will consider it.

Are there any limitation on what websites you can use through their 3G version?

 

[JD50]

I won't be buying one of these until e-book prices come down. You should also get a free ebook when you buy the paperback. I have a ton of technical books that I need to have in dead tree form (can't take a kindle or nook into work) but I'd love have an ebook reader for home use.

 

[Deeko]

I won't be buying one of these until e-book prices come down. You should also get a free ebook when you buy the paperback. I have a ton of technical books that I need to have in dead tree form (can't take a kindle or nook into work) but I'd love have an ebook reader for home use.

heh, its rough, I much prefer reading on my Kindle, but I have such a backlog of paper books to read. I keep switching back and forth...I wish I could just trade them in for eBook versions!

 

[SLCentral]

Profit. Publishers and content owners(not authors, btw) are pocketing the extra cash, not passing the savings along to the consumer.

I don't know where everyone is getting this idea from...I've looked at the Kindle store for more than a few books, and constantly books for Kindle are priced lower than the hard copy. Occasionally it'll be the same, rarely more, but almost always lower.

This may have been true a year ago, but not anymore. That said, magazine/newspaper prices are still crazy.

 

[JD50]

Hmmm.....does anyone know of a good place to get "backups" of the books that I already own?

 

[JD50]

I don't know where everyone is getting this idea from...I've looked at the Kindle store for more than a few books, and constantly books for Kindle are priced lower than the hard copy. Occasionally it'll be the same, rarely more, but almost always lower.

This may have been true a year ago, but not anymore. That said, magazine/newspaper prices are still crazy.

Compare the prices of paper back books on Amazon (the discounted prices) and price of the ebook, it's almost always the same. At least in my experience. Here's an example.

http://www.amazon.com/Python-Essenti...0515309&sr=1-1

 

[gorcorps]

I don't know where everyone is getting this idea from...I've looked at the Kindle store for more than a few books, and constantly books for Kindle are priced lower than the hard copy. Occasionally it'll be the same, rarely more, but almost always lower.

This may have been true a year ago, but not anymore. That said, magazine/newspaper prices are still crazy.

Maybe a bit lower, but not enough for the cost savings. Charging $13 for an ebook version of a $15 book is indeed lower, but when you're saving that much money on printing and such you'd expect more.

 

[batmanuel]

Maybe a bit lower, but not enough for the cost savings. Charging $13 for an ebook version of a $15 book is indeed lower, but when you're saving that much money on printing and such you'd expect more.

Are printing and distro costs really don't make up much of the cost of a book.

http://ireaderreview.com/2009/05/03/book-cost-analysis-cost-of-physical-book-publishing/

Taking away printing costs only drops the price about $3 or so, and transportation costs are likely only add about $1 per book. Since all the other costs are the same no matter what format the book is in, then a $4-$5 difference in price between an ebook and a hardcover seems about right.

Take "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis. I got it for my Kindle for $10, and the hardcover is running $15 at Amazon. This is exactly the price you'd expect it to be once you take away printing and shipping costs, so I think I'm getting a fair price.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Are printing and distro costs really don't make up much of the cost of a book.

http://ireaderreview.com/2009/05/03/book-cost-analysis-cost-of-physical-book-publishing/

Taking away printing costs only drops the price about $3 or so, and transportation costs are likely only add about $1 per book. Since all the other costs are the same no matter what format the book is in, then a $4-$5 difference in price between an ebook and a hardcover seems about right.

Take "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis. I got it for my Kindle for $10, and the hardcover is running $15 at Amazon. This is exactly the price you'd expect it to be once you take away printing and shipping costs, so I think I'm getting a fair price.

You cut out the distributors though, which is another 10-40 percent off.

You're also forgetting the buying back books that publishers are obligated to do, for unsold copies. There's no such thing as an "unsold" ebook really.
That page you linked said anywhere from 20 to 66 perecent of all printed books go unsold.

There's also lower costs for the ebook stores themselves too. Everyone is saving on operating costs with ebooks.

*edit*

WTF what is wrong with the forums? All of my percent signs are being converted to "&#37."

 

[randomlinh]

$50 for no-monthly-fee 3G access? And now it has a WebKit browser? Damn, now I really want one!

err... I'm going to gather web browsing only works on wifi? That would be insane if they gave you free web browsing over 3G. Then again, it's all text, so...

Looking at the text, they say experimental web browsing will be free to use. I get the feeling when it works well (if it ever gets to that point), they will start charging a small fee. Either that or no one will use it even if it's free cause it's terrible.

I'm close to hitting pre-order, but ebook pricing is keeping me at bay.

 

[Deeko]

My girlfriend got the wifi-only version today. Day before release! Good job Amazon.

Its really nice. Much smaller, screen is sharper than Kindle 2, faster page turns, and the new webkit browser is WAY better.