Looks like the iPad is heating up the sales war on reader devices....
The e-reader price war is heating up, with the Nook and Kindle getting price cuts Monday. Barnes & Noble dropped the Nook's price $60 to $199, and announced that it will start selling a new Nook with Wi-Fi access for $149. Amazon responded by chopping Kindle's price $70 to $189. Both devices compete with the iPad, which costs more, but offers far more functions.
The Kindle and Nook drop their prices.
X-Box Kinect Pre-Orders
Last week Microsoft unveiled its new hands-free add-on for the Xbox, called Kinect. One detail it left out was the price. But that's not stopping major retailers from taking pre-orders. Best Buy, Amazon and Wal-Mart are among the stores selling Kinect for about $150, even though they don't know the exact price yet. The motion-sensing system doesn't go on sale until Nov. 4.
source:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/techbytes-reader-price-war/story?id=10977711 (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/techbytes-reader-price-war/story?id=10977711)
I heard this on Tech News Today yesterday. This is making the Kindle a very compelling purchase for me. While I'd love an iPad the Kindle does what I need it to do, read books.
Quote from: billybob476 on June 22, 2010, 07:21:21 AM
I heard this on Tech News Today yesterday. This is making the Kindle a very compelling purchase for me. While I'd love an iPad the Kindle does what I need it to do, read books.
Why ould you choose the Kindle over the nook? I own a nook and I think it is a far superior product. Even though I spent $60.00 more than I would today I have never regretted my purchase. I use it every single day and have read more books since December than I have in the two years previous. I can even borrow ebooks from my local library and you can't do that on a Kindle. Nor can you shop and purchase from multiple suppliers and use price compare to see who has the lowest price on an ebook. You're kind of tied in to shopping only Amazon (without breaking the law by stripping the DRm that is). So, in other words if I had it to do over again I would still buy the nook and if budget was a concern I would buy the wifi only version. I think I have used the 3G maybe twice. So having 3G is really not all that important unless you travel a lot. And even if you do McDonalds has free wifi and as of July 4th so will Starbucks.
Kevin
No Barnes and Noble here in Canada. Also I do 99% of my book purchases via Amazon already plus I have the Kindle iPhone app.
Kindle dropping prices after Father's day upset a few ppl. Kind of a bad move on Amazon's part if you ask me.
It still doesn't really make these products attractive to me enough yet, but it is better than before. Funny how the iPad was the main cause of all this.
King
Interestingly the Kindle DX is still almost 500 dollars. At that price I can't justify it over a base model iPad. The little Kindle though, compelling! I read a ton and I have shelves and shelves of books. An eReader is definitely something I've been interested in.
Frankly if I was in the shoes of these guys I would have gone to $99. for my eReader. That's a very sweet price point and you can really have an eReader, a laptop, and an iPad if you want for that money. Maybe just require the purchase to be bundled with a few eBooks too. One of them will be at $99. by the holidays - just watch.
Quote from: Kingisaaclinksr on June 22, 2010, 09:12:41 AM
Funny how the iPad was the main cause of all this.
Saw it coming a mile away. :) 3 million iPads sold so far.
Quote from: billybob476 on June 22, 2010, 09:02:53 AM
No Barnes and Noble here in Canada. Also I do 99% of my book purchases via Amazon already plus I have the Kindle iPhone app.
I see...we have quite a few nook owners from Canada on Nookboards. You should still be able to make any purchases through B&N and other stores and download them to the nook. But if you're more comfortable buying a Kindle that's cool. I'm glad to see ereaders catching on.
Kevin
Another option for me in Canada is the Kobo eReader which is being supported by our national bookstore chain, Chapters. It only syncs via USB though. Before this price drop, 150 CAD made it a good low cost option but the other two beat it out now (though slightly more expensive the wireless options are better)
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/ereading/devices/kobo-ereader-black/817866000033-item.html (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/ereading/devices/kobo-ereader-black/817866000033-item.html)
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2365219,00.asp (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2365219,00.asp)
The Kobo apparently has some issues but I suspect that those will be fixed soon. The nook had quite a few issues when it first came out but four updates later they continue to improve its functionality. I had thought about mentioning the Kobo to you but I hate that blue button. LOL
Kevin