Kindle 2 Released Globally And A Further Price Cut
Amazon has cut the price of its Kindle 2 e-book reader by a further forty dollars. This is the second price cut since the K2 was released in February. The price is now $ 100 lower than the original $ 359 launch price.
Also available, for the first time, is an international Kindle 2. This costs an extra $ 20 and customers outside the United States can buy one. For the moment, the order must be placed on the Amazon USA website. The device will be shipped with a power supply suitable for connection into a US wall socket and – depending upon which country you live in – you may be required to pay import duties. However, even taking all that into account, it is still a significant development which will increase the size of the market available to Amazon.
According to Amazon head honcho, Jeff Bezos, increases in both production and sales volumes mean that Amazon is able to pass savings due to economies of scale on to its customers. The Kindle reader is selling well and there is, no doubt, something in what Bezos says.
However, the fact that many of Amazon’s competitors either have new e-book readers ready for imminent launch, or in the development pipeline, is probably also a factor. Companies like Plastic Logic, iRex, Samsung and Apple are all very active and are pursuing a share of the nascent – but rapidly developing – e-book reader market.
Not to mention Sony who, after a period in the doldrums, are currently resurgent. The company has already launched two new readers and has announced that its large format Sony Daily Edition reader will be launched in time for Christmas this year.
Although the current market leader – by some way – Amazon cannot afford to rest on its laurels. And given the significant impact of the Kindle reader family on the development of the e-book reader market to date, there is no reason to suppose that they will.
It will be interesting to see the sales figures for the 2009 Christmas gift season. It certainly looks like there is some tough competition for the Kindle reader at last. This should produce lower prices across the board– good news for consumers.
The market is developing very rapidly – but there is still a long way to go before it stabilises. Whether Amazon will remain as the market leader remains to be seen.
