Google offering Free Nexus One Phones at TED, Amazon offering free kindles to Prime Subscribers, Will Apple offer iPads with MacBook Pro? :)

Anyway good news to Amazon Members!

Nice — both for Amazon and for Prime customers. But why are y’all still using a photo of the original Kindle?

Now THAT is awesome. Completely the opposite approach than Apple takes in regards to hardware vs. software sales.

Fantastic.. in a previous thread on iPad I commented Kindle would be dead if they didn’t give it away with a subscription. So this was my idea ;-)

when is this going to be available on their web page?

This would rock. Amazon Prime is already awesome. This is icing on the cake. Please do this amazon. I’ve held of purchasing ebooks or a kindle, but I would buy books from amazon if this was the case.

I hope Mike hasn’t just ruined that deal for all of us Prime customers!

As an Amazon Prime member with Kindle envy, I SO hope this happens! :)

Agreed. Although, I also wonder if they will be including the people who have signed up for the ‘one month free trial’, will be part of this.

Even a $5 discount on the kindle to Prime customers would be more exciting than this. Offering something for free if you claim you don’t like it is of zero value.

The other way to look at this of course is “oh lord, we have this warehouse full of old equipment that was only of limited interest before and now nobody with half a brain will buy it – how do we get rid of it?”

…once every few weeks your top recommended book will be automatically Kindled to your device, you then have 48 hours to either delete it or keep it and pay the low low Kindle Club price…

Amazon is fantastic…love ordering books from them. The Kindle? What a slab of ugly!

This is sweet. I wonder how many people pay over $80 in shipping from Amazon?

Looks good, but doubt amazon can really do it. How do they distinguish the people who really don’t like the kindle from the people who actually want to keep the kindle free?

I would jump all over this. I’ve been on eBooks sideline. Unsure about $250 on a dedicated device. I was excited about the iPad, but am a little more reserved now. If it doesn’t use Flash and is missing some connectivity stuff (would love to be able to mount an external drive), then it’s not quite what I hoped it would be.

Amazon, you give me a Kindle now, and I’ll start buying. I have about 30 paper and hardcover books next to my bed that I’m “in the middle of” reading!. To get rid of that clutter would be incredible.

Ah, the “give away the razor, sell the blades” strategy. Good one. As long as they don’t have do this again: http://chrisco.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/jeff-bezos-amazon-big-tell/ (the George Orwell “1984″ thing).

I have the original. I wonder of they’ll give me the new one. Otherwise, I call foul!

Well, the “Free Nexus at TED” isn’t really free, since it costs about 6 grand to attend…

Yeah I was also wary about this before signing up. I crunched the numbers and I looked at how much I spend on shipping across a bunch of different sites in a given year. It was definitely more than $80. Almost all of the things I bought on other sites were cheaper or the same price on Amazon. So I convinced myself that if I just started to buy everything on Amazon, it would make financial success.

So far, so good. I’ve been buying a lot of stuff that I would have bought anyway and the 2-day shipping is lovely.

I bet a lot of Prime customers already have the Kindle. We Prime customers are already a bit “Amazon crazy”. So they need to offer you a second one if you already have one.

I’ll take one. I bought one a year ago, but it’s so fucked up from all the traveling I’ve done, time for a new one. Thanks Jeff! :-)

Awesome, hope to have one.

Amazon seems anticipating ipad, to more aggressive this time.

Looks like Amazon is getting a little desperate and scared.

I doubt it will be “free” but I could see them offering it to Prime account holders for $99.

Even at $99 a bunch of people would purchase it and would even sign up for a Prime account to get the discounted Kindle.

just my thoughts….

Great ! Guess wat i compared ipad with kindle vs other tablets and the amazon kindle is worth the race

http://pcgamersera.com/2010/02/the-tablets-war-apple-ipad-vs-sony-reader-vs-amazon-kindle-vs-dell-mini-5-many-more/

Amazon is scared. Apple didn’t give away a Pod or iPhone and look how successful those products turned out.

I am fortunate enough to have the Kindle DX.

But, I’ll take another Kindle under this program. If the intersection of Amazon Prime membership and Kindle eBook purchases looks anything like my purchase behavior, Amazon is not only going to *not* lose money, they are going to clean up.

I buy 100X more for my Kindle that I ever did from a bookstore, even with Prime (free) shipping.

Let me get this straight… Amazon says: “We want to convert people who pay us at least $79/yr to ship them physical books into people who pay $0/yr to ship them eBooks”

I *think* you’re joking, but I’ll be really surprised if some sort of “record club” model like this doesn’t materialize soon, either from Amazon or someone else.

Think about it — this worked for records *before* the advent of collaborative filters and recommendation engines, and lots of people probably kept the auto-shipped records they received from Columbia House, BMG, or whomever.

If booksellers took the same model, threw in a free reader, and personalized it, I think they’d sell a ton of books.

Am guessing you get it after the free trial if you stay on! Prime is worth it only if you buy something like more than 10 items a year and if you do that their nothing to stop you from bundling items and get the free shipping for order over 25$. That why when I have just a single item under 25$ that I want to buy I usually just save them for later in the cart.

That would be great. I’ve been a Amazon Prime member now for 4-5 years and it is fantastic.

We do nearly all of our holiday shopping on Amazon to save us both time and money.

I’ve manage to avoid buy one so far (I thought I might get it for a gift last Christmas). But, if I had a Kindle, I would definitely buy plenty of books and probably end up reading more than ever.

I am in a prime trial right now. I will sign up for prime if they give me a kindle.

I’ve been a prime member for a few years and have had no such offer of any kind. I make purchases on Amazon all of the time.

Amazon better gives us loyal customers something. Been a Prime member for years it seems. And I don’t used it for books. But electronics and big stuff. It’s truly a life-saver and saves our business money.

Maybe this is a little like betting on the Saints, but I’d wager that ebooks sold and delivered over the whisper net eclipse iTunes musics sales in the not too distant future. The value of sharing, remixing, inter-linking, and adding value to text content dwarfs that of playlists and entertainment.

For instance, one could imagine a publisher-wide social graph of the peoplex listed in book indexes, and then the building an overlay of custom “tables of content” packages, created by someone, and followed by anyone.

Amazon Prime is the bomb. I was skeptical, but Amazon sucked me in with a free trial a few years ago and I’ve never looked back. It’s not just books, although I buy a lot of those, it’s printer ink and cameras and paper and salad dressing and pretty much anything that I can order online. I would much rather have the UPS truck make a stop at my house than spend my time and waste the resources taking my car out. I, too crunched the numbers and I’m saving a bundle on shipping costs plus getting the convenience of 2 day delivery.

I just bought a Kindle and love it as much as my iPhone, which is saying a lot. If there’s a deal for Amazon Prime customers, I hope I’ll get another Kindle for my housemate.

This is the only way to get me to use a kindle. Cant see paying $260 to read $10 books.

Yes, because there is a bigger profit margin on e-books than on hard copies (despite the higher price). You don’t have to print, warehouse or distribute e-books.

If you gave me a Kindle so I could download books electronically, what exactly am I going to need Prime shipping for? Do Prime members really buy that much non-book merchandise to justify 79/year in shipping after moving to the eBook platform? How many 70-packs of toilet paper and Kind bars do you need in a year?

Luckily for me I made a separate business account – and did my Prime membership under this. My kindle is on the personal one.

This means they have no link between my Prime and my Kindle account – and hopefully that means I’ll be eligible in case they only give it to non-kindle owners.

More like betting on the Raiders.* Apple is approaching 10 billion songs downloaded: http://www.apple.com/itunes/10-billion-song-countdown/. That’s an awful lot of eBooks over Whispernet, especially when the books will start pushing $15 a pop.

*I’m probably one of five Raider fans left in the Bay Area.

FWIW, as an Amazon Prime member, I’ll be happy to take a free Kindle — and even pay for some newspapers and magazine subscriptions. (This coming from someone already squirreling away money for the iPad in April.)

I like competition and I hope Amazon, Apple, HP and the rest of the current and future tablet/slate makers keep tackling the tough engineering and marketing challenges. Life gets better for everyone.

Surprised no company has pushed the Netflix model for books. Rent the book for some defined period of time for a small fee. When time expires you would no longer have access. Probably similar to the book sharing scheme used on the Nook from Barnes and Noble. Much more palatable than the proposed $15 that the publishers are pushing currently.

I’ve been using Prime for sometime now, and I’d have to say that it rocks. Not only do I not have to think about shipping when I buy things online, but my packages always come within two days. With the addition of a Kindle, this makes Prime that much better.

With that said, I’m not sure how they can afford to do this, at they’re losing money on both prime, and the giving away of a kindle. However, I’d love it for other industries to take this approach. Electric companies should give away free Hybrids, and gas companies should give out free SUVs.

I’m not holding out any hopes that this will spread to amazon.co.uk’s Prime members :(

Even still though, what’s preventing someone from buying the service for one year, paying the $75 fee, just to buy the kindle at a reduced rate?

Same here. I’m a Prime customer, already own a Kindle but I have to share it! Another free one would be heaven.

If this rumor is true it will probably mean some sort of monthly subscription plan is coming. Think along the lines of Audible who offers people a discount towards the hardware of their choice as long as they sign up for a yearly contract(not sure if this deal is still around). I personally like this option and would gladly take a free or deeply discounted Kindle for the cost of buying a a couple new books a month. Makes Amazon kind of like one of those wireless companies…

I’m about the same as Jason. You really need to order some stuff. But when 2 days shipping is free… you do. I get packages almost every day. (I like getting packages!) When it’s free, you just turn your 1-click on and buy stuff. Need toothpaste? Order it.

I bought a wisk broom for $5 the other day – by itself. 2 day shipping for free. I’m sure they get some killer rates from FedEx, but they can’t have enough margin in a wisk broom to pay that shipping bill. But of course, that’s an extreme case. I buy so much from them that does have margin that they have no doubt profited a lot.

It’s a brilliant program imo.

So, why use that old Kindle picture with this article? That one is OLD! In case you guys hadn’t noticed, Amazon released Kindle 2.0 over a year ago…

This is a win for Amazon. When Prime was announced several years ago, I was hesitant to adopt and went the cheap route. But when all my Christmas presents to friends and relatives (all of whom live in my home state a 12 h drive away) I adopted. And I have loved it. For a busy technical type who works hard and travels a lot, it makes my life simple.

I’ve been an Apple user for 10 years, well, since 10.0 was released when I bought the second production line of iBooks. But the reason I’m a pseudo-Apple fanboy is because Mac OS was NOT Microsoft (copious hate) and was similar to Linux, but better/friendlier. The Kindle, which I don’t own now, is a better product in my perspective, especially with included internet service. I have never adopted the Kindle and don’t have one, simply because I like reading physical books.

Over the years I have secretly hoped Amazon would release just two, well designed, user friendly, Linux-based portable computers (a netbook and a poweruser model) and one 3g media box (a 3g equivalent of a Roku box running Plex/XBMC on Linux (dare I say, Acer Aspire Revo-AmazonKindle remix?)). The Kindle is the closest thing to this wish but I haven’t adopted simply because I prefer physical books.

Amazon has almost all I need, especially with their cloud computing service, lower prices on just about everything, is DRM free. A KindlePrime though, that’s an idea that would probably instantly convert me to ebooks. Especially since I just sold and packed up my giant library … and am dreading unpacking it at my new home.

Bring the PrimeKindle!!

(…. and stick Skype and a camera on it)

I’d buy that. I’ve been on the fence about the kindle, but at $99 it’s a no brainer.

One obvious way to d this without losing money is to set up a paid subscription program(say $20 a month) that autobills and dumps credits into an account to be used toward kindle volumes. For the price of iPad wifi, users would get a free kindle and 24 books a year.

Which is precisely what I would do!

Why would someone who pays $79/year for next day shipping correlate with someone who downloads e-books?

Yes, I’ve been a Prime subscriber for 3 years now and love it! I’m totally game for this. I love my Sony eReader, but would like a Kindle too.

You realize that’s the point, right? Amazon is “trying to figure out how to do it without losing money” which translates directly too: Amazon needs to make accurate estimates of continued book purchases by those who only do a Prime membership for a year just to get the kindle.

By giving out the Kindle for free to Prime customers, Amazon will expand the market that the currently reach with their ebook sales. They’ll help make the format even more standardized to the point where the cost of giving out a kindle is offset by the purchases made over the life span of the device in the hands of a typical user.

If Amazon can actually pull this off, it would be brilliant. If Amazon did this with say a major university, offering all the students kindles for free and discounts on e-textbooks, they would literally create an entire generation of customers.

I guarantee Jeff Bezos would take a small loss from his hardware sector if you told him this could solidify his foothold on the millennial market.

I really dont think this is going to happen, at least not the way Mike puts it here. The cost of Kindle is $259. Prime costs 79, so even if you discount the Prime cost to Amazon (remember that Amazon loses money on Prime), it is a subsidy of $180. For bestsellers selling at 10 bucks, Amazon makes around 2.5. They would need to sell 70 books just to recover kindle cost. I am sure there are voracious readers who purchase 70 books a year, but majority of the populace does not.

I really dont see how Amazon can break even here.

scared? I doubt it. they make their sales on content, not the kindle.

why is everything a playground fight with you zealots?

When iPad was compared to the kindle, the amazon device beat iPad in many terms (in respect of being as a reader) the only ‘little bit’ light of the iPad (as i see it) is its iBook towards the Amazon. But the rest, when it comes to specs, price, e-ink, battery… the Kindle rocks. More Details: http://bit.ly/kindle-2-details

***Hopefully, Harper Collins aren’t betting too much on iPad for their ace.

The free Super Saver shipping for orders over $25 is the option that takes them a couple days to “process”, then takes another week to ship.

The Amazon Prime 2-day shipping is literally AT YOUR DOOR in 2 days. No comparison, and very addicting…

Hey Michael, I can’t find the post where you called TED “such a snoozer”. Backfire on ya?

i’ve been a Prime member since they launced the program how-ever-many years ago. I am an active Amazon user, make several purchases a month. I would be so deeply appreciative to have my loyalty to Amazon rewarded in this way. How very exciting!

b/c of my Prime membership, and Amazon’s prices, i always shop for things at Amazon before i look anywhere else. this is especially helpful for last minute shopping around the holidays. i’ve become so addicted to Amazon’s prices and the Prime program, i almost *resent* paying shipping costs at any other online retailer. the cost of the Prime membership is WAY cheaper than what i’d spend for shipping in a given year. finally, there are other perks that come w/ the Prime membership – things like $3 overnight shipping per item if you want things faster, and their newest gift – saturday delivery for items ordered on thursdays. i love it.

they should offer it free w/ one free kindle book a month or a subscription plan. get a free kindle w/ one kindle book a month required purchase. like this idea. as a kindle 2 owner, its a great thing.

ipso fatso

Ugh. Why the old picture of a first-gen Kindle? Get off your arse.

Exactly Steve! Not to mention that you can share one prime account with 4 people! 2-day shipping makes the 80 dollar fee worth it alone, but it only gets better when you want something the next day and it only costs 4 dollars and arrives on your doorstep like magic. You can even get saturday next day delivery for 6.99. Prime has probably lost money on me.

I don’t understand what all this talk about ipad killing the Kindle is about. Every ipad user is just going to download Kindle for Iphone anyways. Win for Amazon.

If you want a job done right, …

Noticed the same thing.

I fixed the Crunchbase version. Let’s hope it propagates to whatever image they use for Kindle articles, as this is ridiculous so long after launch for such a major device.

Have you seen one in person?

I felt the same way until I used one. Also, you can get quite a few books and periodicals for free (see Calibre).

I hate to say it, but this would probably work. I already buy kindle books for my phone, I think if I had an actual Kindle, I’d wind up buying a lot more. I can foresee a of instances where I’d wind up going “well hey, it’s only 10 bucks for that book, what the heck.” I do that NOW, so if i had a Kindle, I thinking I’d probably do it even more. Which is both a good and bad thing, I suppose.

Just a note…..the item you purchase has to be eligible for Amazon Prime shipping…so not everything is available for 2 day shipping…..so, while you may be buying from Amazon as a Prime Member…doesn’t mean you’re going to get the 2 day shipping!

What in the world has been happening to the TechCrunch interface and the ad columns? Right now, it is virtually impossible to read comments on this article because the column ads embedded on the left side have pushed the comment column to about 100 pixels wide.

This has been happening for the past week. Using iE7 on Windows XP.

Mark

I’ve been a Prime member for a few years and have bought three (yes, three) Kindles. So what good would this do me?! (I don’t need four, but I’d gladly take a refund on one.)

Although they’ll probably give it only to Amazon Prime customers who have purchased lots of things.

I buy *everything* at Amazon, thanks to Prime. If only I didn’t have to break down so much cardboard each week.

Maybe this ‘leak’ is from the guy who owns the Amazon P&L, just to get a surge of subscriptions.

I have been a prime member for couple years and it is so easy to do the “1 click” shopping, I tend to buy more than I would if I had to fill out a online check out form, would love a free Kindle, I would buy books for Kindle instead of my current audible books.

Same here! Would love a 2nd Kindle for my wife!

I wouldn’t say they’re scared necessarily. From Amazon’s POV the Kindle is a device that does nothing but sell Amazon books. It makes sense for them to want them in the hands of their most prolific purchasers.

I’d love a discount on the Kindle DX… but the free original Kindle would not be something I would use much. I have a lot of research papers I read and pay for that the plain old Kindle would not allow me access to.

My only complaint here would be this: I already bought the Kindle at full price and have been a Prime customer for more than three years – so, where’s the break there for having both – especially considering too, that more than 1/2 of the books I bought via Prime, I had to also pay for, for the Kindle. (See similar backlash as the first iPhone buyers).

I wish they would’ve thought about this before I spent $400, or whatever it was, for my Kindle.

I’m with you on the cardboard thing, it would be nice if they had some sort of cardboard exchange or recycling program.

@MediaMan, I really hope that they do that. I would love to be able to stop having to lug around all of my textbooks, and be able to put it all on one reader.

Um… what?

Wow, free stuff is always good right? I mean like WOW

Jess
http://www.isp-logging.net.tc

As a matter of fact Apple did give away iPods- all through the early 2000′s they offered college students a free iPod with the purchase of a computer. The model varied over time.

We will make it up in volume ….

Maybe the failure of kindle will collapse the Amazon house of financial cards.

Not only that, but for gamers Prime is an amazing program! Besides the free 2-day shipping and the 3.99 overnight, they offer FREE RELEASE DAY shipping on most of the upcoming titles! Waste my time and gas going to the GameStop 10 miles down the road or wake up on release day and find a package with my new toys in it? Not to mention $10 off your next video game purchase on almost every new title coming out… I think after this next slew of games I’m getting I’ll be able to get one or two for free!

You do know that Amazon sells much more than books, right?

I wonder what the future of kindle will be, now that the ipad is here.

I have been a Prime customer since it was announced over 3 years ago. There is no doubt that they lost a ton of money on me with that 2 day shipping.But that is why I use it. There is nothing worse than buing something on line and then waiting a WEEK to get it.

One day I had a freaking projector screen delivered to me next day on a Saturday for $3 more.

My wife did most of her X-mas shopping on Amazon this past holiday season. UPS was at my door almost every day in December.

Giving away a product as part of a promotion is not the same as just giving away a product. Yes, you are correct on the college promo. They even did it in 2009 and probably again this year. Apple does factor in how much profit they make on those promotions and I can tell you they giving away a thing.

I am an Amazon Prime customer and sometimes I get my order the very next day without paying the extra money for next day delivery. And with Amazon Subcribe and Save, I will never forget to buy razors again!

It’s obvious, really. The correlation is in both cases the individual has a huge need, or at least desire, to get information quickly. It’s either perceived as highly valuable or enormously entertaining. And in my case, addicting.

Amazon is going to have a more difficult time moving Kindles when more tablet computers coming to market are going to be offering more functions than just reading. The Kindle would seem to be a very nice device, but I would think the consumer would want more in a device. I hope that the Kindle will have color ink in the future so that magazines would be a little more colorful to look at. The Kindle’s user interface looks a little outdated, but that should be a deal-breaker for person who just enjoys reading books. Kindles and iPads should be able to happily coexist and not overlap all that much.

I wonder what they mean that the expected life of a Kindle is about two years. Certainly a device like that would easily last five or more years.

I can’t help but think all this competition is good news overall. Personally, as someone who has self-published successfully on Kindle, I’m thrilled to think of more Kindles out in the world. Since I released my novels to Kindle, I’ve gained readers, and one of my books, A Scattered Life, has been optioned for film. Amazon has literally made my dreams come true. I’m definitely a fan.

Life is hectic, and consumers are drawn to that which is easy and convenient. And what could be easier and more convenient than one-click? With Amazon Prime, the package is at your door in two days, and with the Kindle, a whole book (or free sample) is on your device in less than a minute. I’m not sure how Amazon can give Kindles away, or deeply discount them, and still come out ahead, but I think it’s great.

um, if fewer ppl buy kindles, fewer ppl will buy the content for them… amazon is most definitely scared…

Uhhh…more people that have Kindles, more people that will buy content. That be like saying that if HP gave away free printers that fewer people would buy ink. Does not compute.

Maybe they will require a long-term commitment. They could offer a free Kindle with a purchase of two or three years worth of Prime (really, you’d just be getting free Prime for buying a Kindle…but it sounds more appetizing to get a Kindle free).

Agreed — As a happy prime customer I have to admit it’s worth every dime. I can ship things next day for $3.99 to my hearts consent…

To keep those newer subscribers from joining Amazon Prime just to get a reduced-rate Kindle, Amazon should give the free Kindles to those who were Prime subscribers as of Feb. 1, 2010, but no later.

2012 is real. I saw a video on youtube that confirmed this.

Michael,

Did you ever hear any more about this?

Kindle looks sweet but is it really anything that an ipad can’t do:

wow datz great!!!!

Giving Kindles away to Prime members does a lot more than sell e-books. As a Prime member – I use Amazon for everything but fresh produce. If people sign up to be Prime to get the Kindle – they’ll end up buying a lot more than e-books. Once the shipping is fast and free – Amazon’s prices on just about everything can’t be beat. Food, toiletries, clothes, toys, electronics, car parts, tools … when they are delivered to your door in two days free (or only $3.99 for one day) it’s a no-brainer.

I’m an Apple *and* Amazon heavy-user. I think getting people to sign up to be a Prime member is a win-win for Amazon and will have little impact on Apple.

I was on the fence for months before I finally decided to order my Kindle 2. I had been reading such mixed reviews about the device and about Amazon’s customer service that I simply could not decide about the purchase. This review is for all of those people, like me, that cannot decide if they need a Kindle 2 for themselves. Well, struggle with the decision no more and ORDER IT! I am so happy with my Kindle 2 and I look forward to reading it every single day. All of the problems that I was worried about are not problems at all. Downloading books is easy, the screen is NOT too dark, the font size is adjustable and the Kindle customer service support is terrific. I had a problem with my Kindle 2 and I was instantly connected with the most helpful representative. I did not have to wait on hold and the problem was solved in no time. I have made the highest recommendations of the Kindle 2 to my friends and family and will continue to do so in the future. I can say with absolute confidence, if you order your own Kindle 2 you will not be disappointed! http://bit.ly/crMMcP

I been thinking about it and I believe it would be better move for Amazon to send free kindle to big buyer. Say if you buy for 200$ on Amazon in a year when you reach that line Amazon send you a kindle! That way amazon get reach their big buyers and they can stop peoples from gaming the system by getting prime just for a cheap kindle!

That is a beautiful idea. It might actually be the thing that drives me from Sony’s e-Readers and B&N’s nook. (Have a PRS-500, thinking about upgrading, looking at the market and my options…)

I was excited to hear this rumor when it first broke, but 10 weeks later I have seen not another word about it. Could somebody please follow up and report the current status of the story, or what Amazon is saying about it?

I shall buy a kindle as soon as I can SELL THE BOOKS AFTER I READ THEM.

Otherwise F/O, amazon.

In a few years, though, won't the iPad beat out the kindle? Will this really be worth it for amazon?

i have one, it is not good. i am used for 2 month. hard to type

This is an interesting gadget, if there more updates on this?

You’ve pretty much answered all my doubts with this and have done a great job with the article.

Like yourself I’ve been blogging about this a bit and you’ve given me some good ideas for my next post. Thanks, I look forward to reading more :)