New: Kindle with Ads Edition

The eBook reader is a hot item for those who love to read on the go. The technology is appealing when you can take your favorite book, newspaper, or other online reading with you, in a fairly compact, lightweight item. The Kindle reader is an Amazon special, and they have recently reduced the price, but with a slight addition. This new Kindle is $35 less that the least expensive version of Barnes and Noble's Nook, and some $66 cheaper that the least expensive reader by Sony. Of course it is hundreds of dollars cheaper than an iPad, but I am not sure that is even a fair comparison as far as what each unit can do.

At just $114, the new "Kindle with Special Offers" has the same set up hardware wise as the regular $139 edition; the Wi-Fi, one-year battery and the 8.5 ounce weight. The new addition to this edition is the sales ads that are presented to you through the unit now. These ads will show up within the home screen, not the book reading area itself. These items will be available at a discount through the Kindle, but initially will be Amazon related items until it is opened to other advertisers.

With Amazon recently opening an Android App store, as well as hiring Android software developers, some see the ads and offers as being yet another step towards Amazon potentially building its own table, similar to and competing with the iPad.

James L. McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research said “I can so easily see them selling a tablet in the future at a dramatically reduced price. To me, this is a way for them to test that out and to start talking to advertisers.”

Jay Marine, director of Kindle at Amazon, when asked about the possibility of an Amazon tablet, said “I don’t want to speculate.” While people could easily purchase this lower cost Kindle and turn off the Wi-Fi, thus eliminating the ads, Mr. Marine doesn't think customers would do that, but would instead value the ads they are presented. “We think the response is going to be really positive because it doesn’t touch the reading experience” he said. These new lower cost units are expected to begin shipping on May 3rd.

Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, mail order book store manager, and musician. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Tech Careers blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog sites.