KINDLE-3 3G (Cellular network access included along with WiFi) now available as Special Offers Kindle also, at $164 for web access from almost anywhere.The image at the top goes to the new product page, and here's the Wall Street Journal article on the Kindle-3 3G SO (3G w/Special Offers).
This comes with Special Offers and Ads as described in the recent articles for the KSO-WiFi-Only. Special Offers feature is the carrot for the currently low-key ads said to subsidize lower-cost Kindles and which are not seen while reading.
The initial offers for the earlier WiFi Only version that was ready first have included (they expire quickly, so these below are gone but a few may repeat.):
. $10 for $20 Amazon.com Gift Card
. $6 for 6 Audible Books (normally $68)
. $1 for an album in the Amazon MP3 Store
(choice of over 1 million albums)
. $10 for $30 of products in the Amazon Denim Shop or Amazon Swim Shop
. Free $100 Amazon.com Gift Card when you get an
Amazon Rewards Visa Card (normally $30)
. Buy one of 30 Kindle bestsellers with your Visa card
to get a $10 Amazon.com credit
. 50% off Roku Streaming Player (normally $99)
Those interested in this might also want to read about the AdMash tool for voting on screensleeper ads for this model. As before, the only ads that show up are on the 'screensavers' when you're not reading and one line on the bottom of the Home screen as shown in the image above.
Take a look at the new product page for much more info, and I'll update this blog entry a bit later.
UPDATES - Am including all new details from their updated press release.
I was intrigued that the battery life is now stated as "up to two months" -- I guess they decided to rate this at 1/2 hr per day too, which is probably way under what most avid Kindle readers use per day.
Jay Marine, Director, Amazon Kindle, pointed out that $164 is "the lowest price for any 3G e-reader." And here's more, quoting the press release:
' Special offers that will be available in the coming weeks include (emphases mine):
$10 for a $20 Amazon.com Gift Card - customers loved this offer, so we're making it available again in time for Father's Day
Save up to $500 off Amazon's already low prices on HDTVs with a unique 20% discount on 200 HDTVs from brands including Sony, Panasonic, LG, and VIZIO
$1 for a Kindle book, choose from thousands of books including Water for Elephants and the Hunger Games trilogy
Spend $10 on Kindle books and get a free $10 Amazon.com Gift Card
Kindle 3G with Special Offers includes all the same features that helped make the third-generation Kindle the #1 bestselling product in the history of Amazon.com:
[Not new, but included so you can compare these features with other e-readers]
Free 3G wireless , no annual contracts, no monthly fees
Global 3G coverage means books in under 60 seconds in over 100 countries and territories
Paper-like Pearl electronic ink display, no glare even in bright sunlight
Lightweight 8.7 ounce body for hours of comfortable reading with one hand
Up to two months of battery life with wireless off eliminates battery anxiety
Kindle Store with over 950,000 books - largest selection of the most popular books
Seamless integration with free "Buy Once, Read Everywhere" Kindle apps for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and Windows Phone
Kindle 3G with Special Offers is available for immediate shipment to customers in the U.S. at www.amazon.com/kindle3G. '
Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's) K3 Special ($114) K3-3G Special ($164) DX Graphite
Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. Top 100 free bestsellers. Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.
Amazon always seems to save a little ammunition to deflect attention from their competitors. Nice launch, Kobo and B&N! Now, back to Amazon Android Tablet Watch...
ReplyDeleteand Carnoy's smaller touch Kindle ! Maybe he got confused about the Android tablets coming out? CNet at first felt it might be e-Ink when Digitimes said FSS technology licensed by E-Ink Holdings. But he sounded as if he knew something today and wanted to say it while adding brackets around "likely"...
ReplyDeleteNo one had ever mentioned smaller. I'm through with getting different sized cases though :-)
Kobo is just too no-frills for the money but it's a good basic reader for people who don't care about the annotations and search features. (Or did they add some in the last few months?)
I'm surprised the discount is the same $25. My untutored market sense says that those who buy the pricier 3G model will have more money and probably buy more. Their eyeballs are worth more than those of mere WiFi plebeians.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, for me the chief appeal of the 3G model is for traveling and traveling usually takes money. I don't need it because, stuck as I am in Seattle, almost every place I go has WiFi access. But if I were traveling a lot, particularly outside the U.S., that fully paid-up GSM Internet access in some 100 countries, would be a delight. I could get ebooks. I could check webmail. I could browse, ever-so-clumsily, web sites to keep up on the news. Overseas, wrestling with numerous and costly data plans for an iPhone isn't worth the hassle. With a cellular Kindle there's no hassle.
One question I've yet to see answered has to do with traveling with a Kindle. Will public libraries let their patrons check books out even when business and vacation travel takes them far away. I know BBC-TV takes one look at my Internet IP address, turns up its nose, and says, "Sorry, you're not in the UK." I my local library going to do something similar?
[Edited this to fix a calc, thanks to AthenaAtDelphi]
ReplyDeleteInkling, that's a good point.
But as Bufo Calvin pointed out once, $114 is $15 more than $99 (next step down when Amazon is ready).
And $164 means that getting the 3G Model (so valuable to those except the ones who want touchscreens above everything else, even for reading), is only a $25 difference for that 3G over the new Nook, a feature it costs you $130 extra for with a 3G iPad (before data charges, which don't exist for web browsing with the Kindle).
I'm in San Francisco Bay Area and I cannot find an unprotected WiFi location except places I don't want to be tied down to use the Kindle -- Starbucks, MacDonald. I just want to access the Net (especially when I need step-by-step directions, which is quite often) wherever I happen to be.
Or, to check my gmail.
I use it in the city when I'm out. I travel only once every few years, out of this area, so that's not the thing for me.
I think that as a U.S. resident it doesn't matter in the way that it doesn't matter with books you buy when you're buying from outside the U.S. (which brings no problems for a U.S. resident). But I don't know. It's Amazon who would be checking where the download is done, probably, even with the Overdrive library titles. And your buying place would be considered a U.S. buyer (with Amazon) when you're travelling.
Unless Overdrive has different rules. We'll find out. The biggest thing is it's hard to find the book you want, ready for you to borrow from the library when you want it, so I consider it a smaller thing.
What deals have already been available for the Kindle 3G w/Special Offers? Getting mine on June 7, and wondering what I've missed out.
ReplyDelete