Here’s some welcome news for those who have yet to own a Kindle. Amazon just shaved off a good $25 from the price of the popular ebook reader for a special variant of the Wi-Fi model – the Kindle with Special Offers. As you may surmise from its name though, the $114-Kindle is not without a caveat. It will be coming with ads, or as Amazon puts it, “Special Offers and Sponsored Screensavers.”
Whatever you may call them, what this move essentially means is that commercialization, which we once thought was restricted to televisions screens and websites, is now slowly permeating into our books.
Amazon is quick to emphasize, however, that the Kindle with Special Offers, will in no way distract you from your reading. The special offers will appear on the bottom of the home screen, while the sponsored screensavers will only be displayed when the device is not in use. The company also emphasizes that this Kindle version will come with all the same features of the higher-priced models – Pearl e-ink screen, month-long battery life, compact design and super light weight.
According to the Amazon page, the special offers at launch will include the following:
- $10 for $20 Amazon.com Gift Card
- $6 for 6 Audible Books (normally $68)
- $1 for an album in the Amazon MP3 Store (with over 1 million album choices)
- $10 for $30 of products in the Amazon Denim Shop or Amazon Swim Shop
- Free $100 Amazon.com Gift Card when you get an Amazon Rewards Visa Card (normally $30)
- Buy one of 30 Kindle bestsellers with your Visa card and get $10 Amazon.com credit
- 50% off Roku Streaming Player (normally $99)
At the same time, in lieu of the famous author images, sponsored ads of Amazon partners Visa, Olay, Buick, and Chase will be displayed as screensavers.
Amazon is also launching a free Kindle app called AdMash which allows users to choose from several potential ads and vote for those they’d prefer to see as sponsored screensavers. This way, while you may not get rid of the ads altogether, at least you get a say as to which screensavers stay on your Kindle.
Other models of the Kindle currently available are the 6-inch Wi-Fi Only at $139, Wi-Fi plus 3G at $189, and 9.7-inch Kindle DX at $379. The Kindle with Special Offers is available now at Amazon.com.