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When Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) unveiled the first Kindle e-reading device just under two years ago, many balked at the steep price the device was selling for. After all, who would pay so much for basically a replacement for books and newspapers?
The second iteration, the Kindle DX, was released earlier this year to rave reviews and a slimmer body -- but was still priced at nearly $360. Still think that's too high?
These devices continue to sell well -- the original sold out for months upon initial release -- but like most consumer electronics, the price point placed it out of mass rapid adoption. Now that Amazon.com has lowered the price on the original Kindle (a re-design, but still the same size and shape) from $299 to $259, will more customers bite? Doubtful. That's still too high. Even though both Kindles come with tons of free content and free over-the-air wireless downloading, the price will need to head south of $199 for mass adoption to happen.
Amazon will also be releasing a global version of the Kindle for $279 soon that will allow wireless downloading in countries all over the world using the wireless GSM standard (U.S. Kindles use Sprint Nextel's network to download content). Amazon has already set the standard for e-reading -- after all, it operates the world's largest retail book selling operation. But, if it wants e-reading to really start to replace newspapers and some magazines, the price will have to come drastically down. And, perhaps be subsidized by a small monthly subscription fee that gives customers access to as much content as they want.
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