Wednesday, 5 September 2012

Kindles for free: a review from the future


USA: My history on forecasts about Amazon is mixed at best. Two summertime ago, I thought that "before the holidays", Amazon would cut the price of its most affordable Amazon kindle e-reader to $US99. My reasoning was solid - the price of the Kindle's areas kept decreasing rapidly, and Mark Bezos, Amazon's boss, seems to be most joyful of all when he's cutting prices - but my moment was off. Amazon's most affordable Amazon kindle didn't break the $100 hurdle until last season, when the organization reduced the price to $79.

Being wrong doesn't dissuade me, though, so last month I revealed on another perspective in my Amazon amazingly ball. The organization was moving toward offering same-day distribution to individuals in large city areas across the nation, I said. But a few weeks after my piece, Tom Szkutak, Amazon's primary economical official, pooh-poohed the same-day distribution strategy during a call with inventory experts. "We don't really see a way to do same-day distribution on a broad-scale financially," he said.
To me, that seemed like a stone cold bluff meant to throw off competitors. Amazon already offers same-day distribution on select products in 10 American places, and distribution things faster has always been one of its primary corporate tasks - that's why it's building a multitude of new distribution companies across the nation. I'm still adhering to my weapons - I believe that over the next few years, Amazon will offer same-day assistance on more products in more places.

Keep that history in mind when you hear my next review from Amazon's upcoming. Next week, the organization is holding a press event in Los Angeles to present some new stuff. Many experts believe we'll see improvements to the company's Amazon kindle line-up. These include, according to AllTh-ingsD, a new Amazon kindle Fire that has a camera and a better display and, per TechCrunch, a "front-lit" E Ink Amazon kindle, meaning one that research at night. If that's the case, I'll be delighted.

But what about the entry-level Amazon kindle, the model that now offers for $79? It seems certain that Bezos will reduced the price of that system once again. The query is, how low will he go? I think the Amazon kindle will fall to around $55; Amazon's last price fall shaved 30 % off the Amazon kindle, and with the price of areas still falling, I think it could stomach a similar fall again.
But let me go out a little further on that branch. I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon falls the entry-level Amazon kindle much reduced than $55 - all the way down to no price, with a capture. The capture is that you'd have to pay for Amazon's Primary account assistance, which goes for $79 per season. In addition to no price two-day distribution on 15 million products, Primary gives you no price loading movies and access to a "lending library" of Amazon kindle guides. Now if you indication up to Primary, you'd get the Amazon kindle itself no price, too.
I'm not the first to estimate that Amazon would start providing away the Amazon kindle as an bonus to join Primary. As far as I can tell, the idea can be tracked to TechCrunch creator Eileen Arrington, who sailed the strategy early truly. Arrington, who would got word of Amazon's strategy from "a reliable source", said Amazon gives away the Amazon kindle "as soon as they can perform out how to do it without losing money".
Since then, Amazon has regularly broken down the story. "It's not possible. The business economics don't perform," Jay Sea, the organization's Amazon kindle department home, told AllThing-sD's Tricia Duryee last season. He added: "I don't know how to do it. I would not get your hopes up."
Once again, I smell a stone cold bluff. The no price Amazon kindle strategy cause two questions. Why would Amazon hand out an e-reader, and how could it manage to do so? Dig into each and you arrive at the same place: Amazon will create its Amazon kindle no price sooner or later. The only query is whether it will do it now, next season, or the season after that.

First, why? Well, that's easy - because Amazon's long-term goal is to generate income from selling content and general merchandise, not by offering its own gadgets. It has never tried to benefit on the Kindle; even now, it drops a few dollars on each system it offers, according to experts who have investigated the price of the Kindle's components. Amazon seems to think of the physical Amazon kindle in the same way it believes of its satisfaction companies and the aircraft and trucks that carry goods to your house - not as a benefit centre, but as the necessary facilities for getting customers what they want.
Every time Amazon falls the price of the Amazon kindle, revenue of it and revenue of Amazon kindle guides increase considerably.
Amazon and others in the posting industry have observed that e-readers actually change individuals book-buying habits. Because the Amazon kindle lets you buy and study immediately, you tend to study (and thus buy) more guides than you did in the age of print. E-readers seem to turn irregular visitors into frequent visitors.
In the lengthy run - and the lengthy run is the only factor Mark Bezos loves you for you about - getting individuals to study more is very good for Amazon.
Well, except for one thing: What if all those new visitors go to some other bookstore? Apple's iBookstore delivers with every iPhone and iPad, and now that Google is making great pills like the Nexus 7, its publication store is also a risk. Sensibly, Amazon allows its headings to play across all those gadgets - you can buy a Amazon kindle copy of Forty five Colors of Greyish and study it on your iPad, Android operating system and Amazon kindle. But Amazon does not allow other stores' guides to get on the Kindle; if you buy the iBooks version of Forty five Colors, you'll only be able to study it on your Apple company gadgets.
Do you see where this is going? If Amazon gives me a Amazon kindle audience, it's providing me a huge motivation to buy Amazon kindle guides on every other system I own, too. Even if I study e-books mostly on my iPad, I'd still want to go to the Amazon kindle store so I can also study them on my (free) Amazon kindle. For the price of one device, then, Amazon has turned me into a Amazon kindle publication buyer for life.

Even if providing away the Amazon kindle would be a smart move, could Amazon manage to do it? At this point, no one outside the firm really knows. Amazon is the most solid organization I follow; it shows even less about its functions and goals than the popularly secret Apple company, and Bezos enjoys keeping individuals wondering.
But remember all those distribution companies that Amazon is setting up in big cities? It turns out they've had a wonderful effect on the organization's bottom line: Over the last few economical sectors, inventory experts have observed that the rate of growth in Amazon's net distribution expenses has started to fall. For the first six months of this season, Amazon spent 33 % more on distribution than it did last year; but in the same period between 2010 and 2011, Amazon's distribution expenses had increased 82 %.
And this, in the end, is the reason the Amazon kindle has to be no price. The cheaper distribution becomes for Amazon, the more benefit the organization makes on each Primary member. And the more successful Primary becomes, the more motivation Amazon has to get individuals to join for the assistance - and, thus, to provide away the Amazon kindle.

I can't tell you when this will occur. But it will occur. Mark my words: The Amazon kindle will be no price.

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