“Kindle Prices Rise as Special Offers Lose Value: What You Need to Know”
Amazon is well-known for being very flexible when it comes to pricing its own hardware. The company’s eBook readers and tablets are continually offered at discounts for all sorts of occasions. In particular, the promotional prices on reading devices continually create new bargain offers. However, sometimes the pricing goes in the other direction too: a few months ago, the Kindle Paperwhite 2 unexpectedly became more expensive.
Over the course of several days, the price of the eReader was increased from 99 euros to 119 euros, only to be reduced again a few hours later. At that time, Amazon may have just been adding the Paperwhite 3 to the system, which eventually appeared in June with the higher entry price.
Now, a similar effect is happening with the basic Kindle model: The device was launched in September 2014 and entered the market here for 59 euros including special offers. Neither the price nor the advertising support caused a stir, yet the device still justifies its existence as an inexpensive entry-level device.
However, if you take a look at the Amazon homepage today, the Kindle suddenly costs 69.99 euros. The price for the ad-supported version is thus 10 euros higher than at its launch. There’s really no justification for this, as nothing has changed technically since 2014. Strictly speaking, the eBook reader has actually gotten somewhat worse compared to newer competitors, as the more modern E-Ink Carta technology has gradually become standard in all current models.
The basic model is currently more expensive than it was at launch
Apart from that, the price gap to the still available Paperwhite 2 is now so small that you should definitely opt for the model with lighting. The value for money is significantly better here.
Buy Kindle Paperwhite 2 for 99.99 euros
Pricing model for special offers changes
This naturally raises the question of whether it’s (again) an error or if the change was made intentionally. The details already mentioned, as well as the fact that the non-advertisement variant is just 10 euros more expensive than usual, suggest it’s an error. Normally, Amazon.de has always demanded 20 euros more for the ad-free version. The Kindle Paperwhite 3 accordingly still costs 139.99 euros without special offers.
However, if you take a look at France or England, you’ll see that the special offers, which subsidize various Kindle models, have apparently lost value there as well.
In both and in other country-specific Amazon shops (Italy, Spain, etc.), you now pay just an additional 10 euros for the ad-free eBook readers.
It’s conceivable that Amazon is introducing a new price structure for special offers, which would not be completely surprising in light of the changes to the advertising concept. When the subsidies were introduced, the goal was to attract important (sometimes publicly traded) companies to showcase their products. Visa, Olay, Buick, and Chase were the first partners that Amazon managed to convince of the advertising concept. Their ads were initially displayed on the Kindle Keyboard (exclusively in the USA). Additionally, customers had the option via AdMash to select preferred ad placements.
In the end, however, nothing much of that has remained here in Europe, since usually there are no prominent advertising partners. Instead, only Kindle eBooks and various Amazon items (charger, cases, etc.) are showcased, so the company can at best rearrange its advertising revenue and subsidies a bit internally. Whether this results in a profit remains unclear.
The change in the Kindle special offer appears to be no mistake in light of the other European Kindle offers and could provide a glimpse of the pricing strategy for the next Kindle models.
In the coming weeks, Amazon is expected to present a successor to the Kindle Voyage, which could then also be released here with the new pricing model.
