Amazon Lowers Kindle Price To $189 To Battle NOOK And iPad

It's hard to argue that more competition is better for consumers, and that's proving true once again in the growing e-reader market. For awhile, Amazon's Kindle dominated the entire space, and they pretty much ran the show. The Kindle (and subsequent revisions) were always priced rather fairly in the eyes of critics, but there's nothing like a surprise price drop to really get interest growing.


In the hours following Barnes & Noble's announcement of the Wi-Fi only NOOK (and the price drop on the 3G + Wi-Fi NOOK to just $199), Amazon decided to cut the price of their Kindle (with global 3G wireless + Wi-Fi) in order to better compete. Before B&N's reveal, the Kindle was priced at $259. As of today, the Kindle is priced at just $189, a full $10 less than the recently lowered NOOK.

Granted, the NOOK has a color LCD along the bottom to search for books, which the Kindle doesn't have, but this is still a great move for consumers. The world's most well known e-reader is now available for under $200. That's a pretty big deal, and it's one that just might get people to reconsider them; with the introduction of the iPad, a lot of attention left the e-reader market, but with a price this low, it's hard to ignore. Will we sink below $150 before the holidays? The race is on.

 AMAZON KINDLE NOW ONLY $189

Still with free 3G wireless—no monthly fees or annual contracts

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced that Amazon Kindle, the best e-reader on the market (see this recent press release from the world's leading consumer reporting organization—http://pressroom.consumerreports.org/pressroom/2010/06/amazons-kindle-tops-cr-ebook-reader-ratings.html), is now only $189, down from $259. Kindle is the 3G wireless portable reader that allows you to think of a book and be reading in 60 seconds, from wherever you happen to be. Easy to read even in bright sunlight, the 10.2 ounce Kindle is light enough for one-handed reading. Even though it's a 3G wireless device, Kindle has no monthly fees or annual contracts. The Kindle Store includes over 600,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including 109 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases from $9.99. In addition, over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are available to read on Kindle. Since its release, Kindle has been the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on Amazon. Kindle is in stock and available for immediate shipment at the new lower price of $189. Learn more at www.amazon.com/kindle.