In an interesting turn of events, you can now get a cheaper Kindle 3 ($114 instead of $139, a $25 reduction in price – the deal only applies to WiFi only Kindle 3) if you are willing to support ads on homepage and screensavers. Amazon just launched a new program that covers $25 from Kindle 3 price by selling advertising space and whether this will be the future or not, remains to be seen. This could be immensely profitable for Amazon as $25 should be fairly easy to make by selling ad space, especially on a long-term use product as Kindle is, or it could backslash if the customers will reject the technology.
Amazon promises that the ads won’t interfere with your reading, being displayed only on Home screen and as screensavers. Beside ads, Amazon will send its own periodic deals like sales, coupons, etc and the the user will also have some limited control over what exactly the screensavers will show, for example setting preferences for landscapes, illustrations, travel, etc using a new app called AdMash. Among the first advertisement customers will be Buick, Chase, Olay and VISA. The first deals offered if you buy the “Special Offers Kindle” are:
- $10 for $20 Amazon.com Gift Card
- $6 for 6 Audible Books (normally $68)
- $1 for an album in the Amazon MP3 Store (choose from 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 and get $10 Amazon.com credit
- 50% off Roku Streaming Player (normally $99)
Would you buy a cheaper ad supported Kindle if the advertisement will forever stay out of the book content? Meantime you can check our full featured Kindle 3 review.
