Steve Jobs on MacBook Air, Android and Kindle

[Krevnik]

That thing is more expensive than an xbox 360. I think they've got enough profit margin to cover the wireless. But that's what I think. I'm not going to post a "fact" without having any proof to back it up.

It also depends on the profit sharing they have setup with Sprint. My best guess is that Sprint gets a slice of the device revenue to cover 'setup' of the device, each time you have a document sent via wireless to the Kindle, Sprint probably pockets all 10 cents of that, and book sales pocket Sprint another 10 cents or so each.

You don't have to pay entirely up front if you bake the cost of delivery into the content as well.

 

[Krevnik]

Only, with e-books we *don't* have our iPod. The best thing is, IMHO, the Sony Reader (I've got the SRS 500). E-ink, so the battery life is *awesome* [sic].

The 505 is even nicer, IMO. Better display and faster refreshes (Webcomic PDFs from Wowio look slick and load fast)... and the hope to support ePub in the near future.

 

[Bonte]

It also depends on the profit sharing they have setup with Sprint. My best guess is that Sprint gets a slice of the device revenue to cover 'setup' of the device, each time you have a document sent via wireless to the Kindle, Sprint probably pockets all 10 cents of that, and book sales pocket Sprint another 10 cents or so each.

You don't have to pay entirely up front if you bake the cost of delivery into the content as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/---5087
"By offering best sellers for $9.99, Amazon is leaving no profit margin, and it will have the expense of paying Sprint for the data transmission. Amazon says it hopes to make money on older titles that have better profit margins."

How many Kindle's are there on the market? 3000? 10.000? Its in the low numbers making it very expensive to manufacture. They are now selling on Ebay for $600 because of the free data plan and the beta browser that is linked to the device, if Amazon is making money on the device i'm sure they'd put more on the market. This is clearly a money losing program to test the waters.

That thing is more expensive than an xbox 360. I think they've got enough profit margin to cover the wireless. But that's what I think. I'm not going to post a "fact" without having any proof to back it up.

This is macrumors.com and you expect only facts and proof to back it up?

 

[jhande]

The 505 is even nicer, IMO. Better display and faster refreshes (Webcomic PDFs from Wowio look slick and load fast)... and the hope to support ePub in the near future.

I agree, but I'll skip a revision for now. With all the rumors floating around in the e-ink market I'll survive for half a year with the 500 (bought one for my wife as well, she hates electronics, but loves the 500).

 

[Krevnik]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/---5087
"By offering best sellers for $9.99, Amazon is leaving no profit margin, and it will have the expense of paying Sprint for the data transmission. Amazon says it hopes to make money on older titles that have better profit margins."

How many Kindle's are there on the market? 3000? 10.000? Its in the low numbers making it very expensive to manufacture. They are now selling on Ebay for $600 because of the free data plan and the beta browser that is linked to the device, if Amazon is making money on the device i'm sure they'd put more on the market. This is clearly a money losing program to test the waters.

They are definitely making money on the hardware, much like Sony and the others are. Certain books, they might be breaking even on, but as the quote you brought up even said, they are covering those with the library titles which have the larger margin (and make up most of the books Amazon sells).

Just because the 9.99$ bestseller titles don't make Amazon money in this ecosystem doesn't mean nothing does. Especially when the titles that don't make Amazon money are in the vast minority.