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Summary: Amazon upped the ship date of its Special Offers Kindle–should start arriving this week
Today Amazon announced that it was moving up the ship date of its ad-supported Kindle. As luck would have it, my pre-order is moving up, too.
If you’re not familiar with the new Kindle, it’s basically the old Wi-Fi Kindle but with “Special Offers and Sponsored Screensavers”. The big selling point is that the ad-supported model brings the normally $139 Kindle down to $114. Of course, for that discount you will have to deal with Sponsored Screensavers and probably some other ads sprinkled inside of your reading experience.
So, why did I buy the ad-supported version? First off, I wanted to try out the experience. I figured that if Amazon made it too intrusive, the customers would complain and Amazon would make a change. Second, while on vacation my wife expressed an interest in a Kindle, so you can’t go wrong with a $114 Kindle.
As for shipping, I ordered my Kindle on April 20th. Amazon originally slated it to arrive on May 5th, but I just received an alert that mine will now show up April 29th. I’ll be sure to power it up and write up a first impressions once it arrives.
I have a feeling that the $114 price will drop soon, though. To only knock off $25 and inundate the customer with ads isn’t going to last. Perhaps this is a trial to see how the customer accepts it, and then maybe it rolls out onto the 3G version, too?
What do you think about the ad-supported model coming to Kindle?
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With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands and technologies into the mobile and wireless space.
Joel is a serial entrepreneur with his most recent business, CronkSoftware (cronksoftware.com), focusing on consulting and building games and applications for mobile devices. Joel has consulted for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile division and advises other companies on how to incorporate mobile into their existing brands and products. Joel purchases many of his devices and others are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the supplier. If any devices are provided as “keeper” Joel will clearly disclose this in his reviews.
With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands, technologies and services into the mobile and wireless space. Joel is currently serving as the Managing Director of Cronk Software, Inc., a company he founded to offer full-service, end-to-end mobile strategy, design and development services.
Joel is the former founder and "Chief Geek" of Geek.com, a website praised by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and others as one of world's best sources of information for technology professionals and enthusiasts.
Joel also serves as a technology expert for a number of well-known publications and regularly advises corporations, analysts, journalists and bloggers on what the future of technology will bring. He brings decades of relationships with leading game publishers, online communities and publishers, along with both hardware and software product management and delivery expertise. Joel can be found online as "JoelGeek" and you can follow him on Twitter @JoelGeek.
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