Amazon has dropped the price of the 3G Kindle 3 by creating an ad-supported Kindle 3G. On July 13, 2011, Amazon announced that AT&T is going to "sponsor" the Kindle, and AT&T's Mobility and Consumer Markets' CEO Ralph de la Vega says that "Kindle 3G is by far the fastest-growing connected device on the AT&T network."
Kindle 3G with Special Offers
The new Kindle will work just as Kindle wi-fi with Special Offers; ads and offers are built into the screen saver of the electronic book reading device. You do not see ads while you are reading. Some of the offers have been for 50% off of an Amazon gift card and getting a $10 Amazon gift card after buying $10 worth of books.
The Kindle with Special Offers wi-fi is $114, which is $25 less than the regular wi-fi Kindle. The new Kindle with ads is $139, which is the same price as the new wifi Nook and the Kobo ereader. The Kindle 3G with Special Offers is $50 less than the Kindle 3G without ads. The 3G Kindle also has a wi-fi option in case you go out of AT&T's network coverage area.
Kobo Opens Germany's Largest Digital Book Store
On July 13, 2011, Kobo opened Germany's largest ebookstore, which will directly compete with Amazon's German Kindle store. According to Kobo, Germany has the second-largest ebook book market in the world, after the United States, and the German Kobo store will 80,000 German-language e-books.
Kobo is going to focus on local foreign markets with their new touch Kobo Touch Reader, which is similar to the Barnes and Noble touch screen Nook. The Kobo ebookstore works to have the quirky feel of a local bookstore; their Mash It Up section is books that combine classics and modern twists (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), they have cute reasons for offers (such as Kobo's Valentine's day coupon code), and they offer discounts if you share the Kobo app with friends. Kobo books work with all EPUB ereaders, which is e-politeness for "everyone except Kindle."
Will Ad Supported Ebook Readers Work?
In an interview with Forbes, Kobo's CEO Michael Serbinis dismissed Google's partnership with iriver for the Story HD, saying that building a successful ereader and store "takes more than a giant database of books in the cloud." Kobo has been working on social networking with the Kobo Reading Life App, and they positioned themselves as the ereader of choice for characters on NBC's The Office. Kobo then started a Facebook-Office-Kobo contest to blend the ereader, social networking, and the TV showw.
When it comes to ad-supported ereaders like the Kindle, Serbinis says that they are interested in rewards more than ads. He gives the examples of someone reading in Starbucks for a certain number of hours to get coupons, and he discusses integrating Facebook Credits into the Kobo ebook shopping experience.
Serbinis says that if ereaders are going to have ads, people need to spend a lot of time reading on them. The problem, Forbes notes, is that "the people most likely to buy ad-supported e-readers may not be prolific readers." Jeff Bezos says that "Kindle 3G customers read 20 percent more books, and take advantage of twice as many special offers." This could explain why Amazon is still champion the 3G Kindle, even as Barnes and Noble appears to be moving away from 3G (both the Nook Color and the Nook 2 are wi-fi devices).
Amazon is an industry leader, not a follower, but trends of social network, touch screens, and sponsorship could give hints about what Kindle 4 will look like; possibly a color version of the Kindle with a touch screen and offers. There is no mention of an ad-supported Kindle DX, which is Amazon's big screen that can compete with the iPad in terms of ease of reading textbooks and newspapers.
Sources
Amazon emailed the " AT&T to Sponsor Kindle 3G " media release to media members on July 13, 2011.
Kobo posted "Kobo Launches German eReading Store, Native Language eReading Apps, German Kobo eReader Touch Edition" on the Kobo blog on July 13, 2011.
Elizabeth Woyke wrote "Kobo CEO On The Future Of E-Readers And Google Books." It was published by Forbes on July 12, 2011.
Alex Sharp - Alex Sharp is a teacher who has been keeping Suite101 readers up to date with the latest in audio- and e-book gadgetry since 2008.
