Amazon is making a good case for the new Kindle 3G

[questionfear]

In any case, rather than charge directly for the 3g, they would probably just increase book prices.

Why? My point is, it isn't costing Amazon much, if anything, to offer full 3G browsing...it's not worth using because frankly it sucks. So they're not sweating over the cost.

And whatever few cents per Kindle it costs for them to send books over Whispersync is more than worth it for them, or they wouldn't be doing it. They're not going to jack prices just for 3G, that's insane, and if they haven't done it in 3+ years of increasing popularity they aren't about to start.

And don't forget, the 3G is 3G+wifi. If you have wifi at home, you're not using 3G anyway. That may be part of why they slid wifi in as well, but in any case Amazon isn't eating a big cost, and even if they are, free 3G for book downloads is a major marketing component of the Kindle, and has been since day one. You're worrying about something that's completely outside of Amazon's entire business model for the last 4 years.

I think the bigger cost for Amazon than 3G is Whispersync, since that's a lot of data to maintain and manage...but again, major, huge selling point of their devices, and therefore not going anywhere anytime soon.

Amazon has been very, very consistent in marketing the Kindle with 3 big features:

1) Whispersync
2) 3G model has no ongoing costs (only per-download costs for your OWN files, not Amazon's books.)
3) Cheapest titles where the publisher allows pricing flexibility.

Yes, Amazon is the biggest player in ebooks, but they're not the only player...so they need and use these three components to sell the Kindle. You can worry all you want about 3G, but trust me...it's not going to cost anything. Worst, worst, worst, case scenario, web browsing pops out of "experimental" with severe limitations on what sites can be visited, but again, they're not going to charge you after they spent 4 years promoting how it doesn't have ongoing costs.

[jbenham]

Are you still talking eink here? Sounds like viewing pictures on a Sony. What would be the point? It's all black and white.

[LandSurveyor]

Are you still talking eink here? Sounds like viewing pictures on a Sony. What would be the point? It's all black and white.

The point is that I'm looking at tablet-esque devices from the standpoint of somebody who uses them primarily for reading. For this purpose, e-ink is superior as to readability even in outdoor conditions and has much longer battery life. A color e-ink device would be ideal, especially for news and magazine viewing but I think it won't get here until shortly after the universal cure for cancer so I'm not holding my breath.

The 3G part is just a gimme. Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed.

[questionfear]

The point is that I'm looking at tablet-esque devices from the standpoint of somebody who uses them primarily for reading. For this purpose, e-ink is superior as to readability even in outdoor conditions and has much longer battery life. A color e-ink device would be ideal, especially for news and magazine viewing but I think it won't get here until shortly after the universal cure for cancer so I'm not holding my breath.

The 3G part is just a gimme. Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed.

Color eink will happen...it is just very pricey for what you get (color w/ a slow refresh rate.)

[jbenham]

The point is that I'm looking at tablet-esque devices from the standpoint of somebody who uses them primarily for reading. For this purpose, e-ink is superior as to readability even in outdoor conditions and has much longer battery life. A color e-ink device would be ideal, especially for news and magazine viewing but I think it won't get here until shortly after the universal cure for cancer so I'm not holding my breath.

The 3G part is just a gimme. Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed.

There you go. Basically my point You will sacrifice battery life when this event happens.

[Hook]

There you go. Basically my point You will sacrifice battery life when this event happens.

I'm not sure what you are referring to. If color eInk, in fact I don't think there is much if any difference with the black-and-white eInk.

[jbenham]

Hmm, go figure. I didn't even know that there already is color eink.

[LandSurveyor]

It does exist. It's just not ready for the market yet.

[SyncRaven]

True, but have you ever used the Kindle browser? Aside from a desperate "OMG must get email NOW" there's very little reason to use it.

Maybe it's just me but I don't find it that bad. I actually have a kindle 2, and the kindle 3 apparently has a much better browser- and I feel mine is pretty usable. I have no trouble reading news and blogs. Considering it's free, I can't see complaining about it .

[questionfear]

Maybe it's just me but I don't find it that bad. I actually have a kindle 2, and the kindle 3 apparently has a much better browser- and I feel mine is pretty usable. I have no trouble reading news and blogs. Considering it's free, I can't see complaining about it .

Admittedly, I only played with my K3 browser briefly. When i have a smartphone in my pocket, the browser on the K3 is nice to have but not my main impetus for ownership.