What is Digg?41 Comments
- SummerofGeorge, on 10/23/2009, -0/+17as if att's network can handle more data
- mogebier, on 10/22/2009, -0/+14Amazon changed it because they are about to be ass-raped by the Barnes and Noble ebook reader that does more things for cheaper than the Kindle was.
It's about time that competition came into all of this.
Now I wish some company would just pull their heads out and make a $99 one. They would sell millions of them. - Nothlit, on 10/23/2009, -0/+11If only the e-books were reasonably priced. Many Kindle books are only a few dollars cheaper than the paperback or hardcover editions. I have even seen a few cases where the Kindle edition costs more than the physical editions. Until e-books are in the $2-3 range, I'll stick to the public library.
- thinkdifferent, on 10/23/2009, -0/+7That's a bit disingenuous. There are still storage, production, handling & "shipping" costs associated with distributing digital meda, though they are less than physical goods. However, printing has gotten to be so cheap, you'd be surprised at how much of the "cost" of a physical book is not manufacturing.
- Snottlebocket, on 10/23/2009, -1/+8E-books don't cost anything in raw materials, shipping, handling, storage or production. I'll be interested in e-readers once they start taking those things out of the price calculation. Charging a few dollars below the price of an actual book is just insulting.
- somnus, on 10/23/2009, -0/+6Why are you replying to me?! WHY?!?!??!
- Yankees368, on 10/23/2009, -0/+5Yeesh, clear answer is that Amazon wanted to streamline production, and release ONE model wold-wide. No need to worry about multiple radios for different models. GSM only makes sense for a product being sold world-wide.
- beachtrader, on 10/23/2009, -1/+6My guess is that the contract with Sprint was up and Sprint being desperate for money jacked up the costs to Amazon for this. Amazon then decided to go with AT&T.
- miakeru, on 10/23/2009, -2/+7Seems like everyone is running from Sprint. Guess I'll expect my stock to drop some more.
- akatsuki, on 10/23/2009, -0/+4I have a Kindle 2, but that Nook looks like it might be a lot better.
- LordPhoenyx, on 10/23/2009, -0/+3Sooo. which are the better.. Canadian or US? it's not that clear in your statement!!
(I need more coffee) - somnus, on 10/23/2009, -0/+3Canadian companies tend to have great reception in ridiculous places, but you pay. Oh my god, you pay. Also, we can't keep our number when we switch carriers.
- neomatrix724, on 10/23/2009, -0/+3It's ok if they don't make money on the unit...they'll make it up on volume.
- AmusedToDeath, on 10/23/2009, -0/+3I agree mogebier. $99 is about the exact price point at which I would be willing to buy a Kindle "lite". I'd be perfectly happy for them to strip out useless features (at least imo) like the mp3 player/audio reader and wireless access. Just make a simple version that does one thing, display ebooks. Books are not like music or video - if I can load it up with 100 or more at a time, there's no need for on-demand access to more. Just leave a USB port on the side and forget wireless access and make it CHEAPER.
- ajhops, on 10/23/2009, -0/+2Agree. Physical books beate-readers in every way except size. The only use that has me interested at all is daily newspapers.
But back to cost. When you consider used book stores where you can buy books for a fraction of new and you can sell physical books that you don't want to keep on the shelf, the e-readers start to look really expensive. Not to mention the library like you mentioned. - SouthsideIrish, on 10/23/2009, -1/+3So the fact that the rest of the world uses GSM and the fact that Amazon would be selling one UPC in the US and one in the rest of the world has nothing to do with? Why do you think the iPhone is on ATT? Same reason.
- dkla, on 10/23/2009, -0/+2If it were only $49 and had 32GB of memory and worked on all carriers and had a color e-ink screen in hi-def and all the e-books were only 99 cents, then maybe possibly I might sorta consider getting one.
- Infornography, on 10/23/2009, -0/+2It's called COST CUTTING. It's also why verizon will most likely not get the iphone. T-Mobile, maybe. It's just cheaper to produce a unit that can be used everywhere internationally housing a GSM radio.
- sumdumguy1212, on 10/23/2009, -0/+2I would pay $99 for one that had a good selection of books to purchase, a similar screen, a moderate amount of storage and only worked with wifi. I would actually rather have that 'limitation' than deal with a carrier.
- jleclerc, on 10/23/2009, -0/+2There are now rules in Canada for porting numbers between carriers - I did this just a few months ago.
- spazzcat, on 10/23/2009, -1/+2Let the e-ink wars begin
- AmusedToDeath, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1I really doubt Sprint was making wads of cash from the Kindle anyway.
- somnus, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1Good to hear!
- Khast, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1By far the Canadian. To be honest, if I didn't live in the States, I would never use any of the US carriers after this. (It only costs me $1.49CAD/minute if I roam internationally.)
- AmusedToDeath, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1I am so sick of this inane argument. All media, be it books, cds, dvds, software, etc. cost very little to manufacture - they always have. In the case of books, printing costs account for only about 10% of the cover price. MOST of the cost of a book is due to author royalties, editing, staff, marketing and of course retailer profit. The idea that books should cost pennies on the dollar because they're digital is ludicrous.
- miakeru, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1Yep, basically. Glad I don't use them!
- dasunst3r, on 10/23/2009, -2/+3I'm glad I'm not on AT&T's network right now -- they're definitely taking on more customers than their network can handle.
- Snottlebocket, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1Sure it's a gross simplification but in the end you're still just downloading rather small files. Right now the reasoning behind e-book pricing seems to be "as long as its cheaper than physical books we're good", after costs I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be a de facto price raise on books.
People are paying hundreds of dollars for technologically very limited e-reader devices, afterwards they buy books that have extremely low costs for the supplier, yet they still pay almost the same price as regular books. - eleraama, on 10/26/2009, -0/+1I'd strongly encourage getting the PRS-505 over the 500; the updated a couple of things including the page refresh rate and some ghosting issues. I've had my 505 for two years now and I still love it.
- Elranzer, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1The rest of the world... except Japan. You know, that little country that's 500x more advanced than both the US and Europe combined...
Japan uses CDMA. - Elranzer, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1Well you can lbuy used books wich are ALWAYS going to be cheaper than the retail price. The price of a Kindle edition is going to be close to retail, and will never drop as low as the price of a used (and usually perfect condition) book.
- whammypower, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1This is a prime example of where a Anti-Digg button could be beneficial.
- zer0mass, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1A Sony ebook is pretty cheap. I got my girlfriend one last Christmas for about $160. I think it is the PRS-500, the 700 series didn't look worth the cost. I'm sure the 500 models can be found for cheaper now.
- beachtrader, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1There are plenty of places where Sprint sucks and AT&T is great. And plenty of places where AT&T sucks and Sprint is great. Why would Amazon knowingly limit its product to just one carrier within the US when this happens? By only selecting one US carrier they eliminate part of the allure of their product in those dead zones. Amazon was selling both units side by side for about a month now and then all of a sudden they pull them. Either they were just dumping the Sprint versions and getting rid of product or something happened to change. It was a sudden move.
- Elranzer, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1Just a matter of time until the Pre is on Verizon and there will be no reason at all to consider Sprint as your service provider.
- Elranzer, on 10/23/2009, -1/+2Begun, the e-Ink wars have.
- Snottlebocket, on 10/23/2009, -0/+0who'se talking about pennies?
- counterplex, on 10/23/2009, -1/+1Damn, I just bought a Kindle DX. It's on the Sprint network.
- Khast, on 10/23/2009, -3/+3Why not make models which can use GSM/TDMA/CDMA and let the user choose what carrier they wish to use? I know they are trying to subsidize it, but for the consumer, not every cell phone provider is in every location. (At least in the US....because our poor telecommunications businesses can't upgrade their networks fast enough to fill demand.*)
* I live on a border town and have a Canadian cell phone, and from my experiences with the US phone companies vs the Canadian.... Hell, I had full signal bars IN THE MIDDLE OF ***** NOWHERE. (you know over 60 miles from the closest town...with only truck stops along the way.) - Yankees368, on 10/23/2009, -3/+1Uhhhh...TDMA? That was shut down, almost word-wide, years ago.
- acaiberryblast3, on 10/23/2009, -3/+0I was not aware of this news at all.
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