the kindle has been selling. if it wasn't, they would be dropping the price with not strings attached.

It's clearly a triple function ploy: sell a kindle to people who want a discount; get new credit card customers; move stock before the new model(s) come out.

If only apple were as smart as amazon, and had a credit card of their own :-)

SmBizMan

Amazon should broker a deal book stores like Barnes & Noble or Borders to allow people to try out the Kindle. They could even extend the deal to libraries. At least get it in peoples hands so people can actually get their hands on one before buying. Take a cue from PC manufactures. The average consumer can usually go into a Best Buy, Circuit City, or Micro Center try a PC out before you purchase it. The same goes for a lot of general hardware like Camcorders, MP3 Players, and TV's. Amazon needs to get out of the cloud and get in some brick & mortar establishments. Let em try, get em hooked, then they'll buy one.

Joseph

You can get $100 off of pretty much anything in the sony store pretty much any day of the year if you sign up for the sony credit card.

TheDude06

Absolutely clearing stock. If the rumors are true (as I think they are) about the "textbook" version of the Kindle that will be coming out, they obviously need to launch that in September to meet the market for college students. And they'd probably want to launch both the textbook version and the 2.0 of the basic Kindle at the same time.

weatherman

I'm going to go with both.

AHemp

This thing is probably not selling. Just like the Zune; I ask how many times you have actually seen this product out and about? zero, once, MAYBE twice? I personally have never seen a Kindle.

Joseph

A friend of mine just bought a Kindle, which pretty much guarantees the new model is but days away...

(He likes it a lot, but then he also thinks power windows in his car are cool.)

dc-united

That's not a bad idea. If they said "buy $400 worth of books from us and get this reader for free" I'd probably place an order right now.

MaxRC

I know it does more than purchase from Amazon's store, but Amazon wants people to use that feature the most. I can't see spending $359 or even $259 just to spend more money on the actual books. They should give it away for free if you ask me.

Enochrewt

Amazon had been pushing the Kindle pretty hard since the device was first introduced. Those who didn't pay attention might not have noticed, but the Kindle was for a long time not available from Amazon due to demand. People were watching and checking Amazon for stock like they did for the Wii. Even then, Amazon was giving 10% referral commissions to affiliates while other electronic items carried only a 4% rate.

I believe the reason is simple: it is now cheaper to make and sell the Kindle than before, Amazon would like to decrease price in order to sell more, but do not want to 1) pull a Steve Jobs and do a huge price drop, and 2) condition buyers to expect on-going discounts. So they are "decreasing the price" in a combination of ways, such as with the aforementioend affiliate commission, direct price drop from $399 to $359, and now a $100 credit card signup bonus.

MaxRC

The kindle looks like garbage in pictures, because it looks like a Palm from 1996.

I have one, and it is pretty great. I can think of lots of improvements, but I still love it. I didn't think I'd care about the built-in store, but the first time you're bored and can pick up your Kindle and have a new book in a minute, you'll realize how great it is.

(It hasn't completely replaced my physical purchases, because I'm not quite ready to give up my books yet.)

Gannoc

@Joseph: If you take public transportation I'd be surprised if you haven't seen them around.

This is definitely clearing stock for the next model.

Zlevee

Now why would they name it Kindle? Are they prompting the burning of books? Sounds like a Nazi propaganda device to me. Does it come preloaded with Mein Kampf?

Rabid Penguin

The price is certainly high, but the space-saving function of E-books in a small apartment is worth quite a bit. For me, the best thing Amazon could do is to get more books out in Kindle format and to have more day and date new releaes.

Canoehead

@MaxRC: Amen. I'd be in line right behind you.

PhilR8

@Zlevee: You do have a good point. I stopped riding public transport a few years back.

Joseph

I was hoping for some good news like this, have been waiting for the new kindle to come out before jumping in. This appears to me a good sign the wait is near over.

BlackSmokeDMax

Absolutely a stock clearing move.

As a matter of fact Sony did more or less the exact same thing ($100 off list, + $100 normal sign up bonus) between gen 1 and gen 2 of their eink reader line. It was a good deal then, as the new version didn't add that much. This time I am somewhat more cautious as the relative discount is less and the potential for improvement more.

Old thread on Sony promotion [www.fatwallet.com]

yasth

I've seen a couple in public, but one turned out to be the Sony Reader thing. I'd get that instead simply because it doesn't have a stupid name.. and it's cheaper to begin with.

Barth

It's Clunkosaurus. Unless and until, the form factor gets whittled down and the content support broadly increased, I am happy curling up with a book that I can shuttle between my bed and the john.

Cobol_Mongol

@Joseph: I have seen the Sony e - reader at a Barnes and Noble, but not a kindle.

xxenclavexx

CNBC just had a very short segment that Kindle 2.0 is definitely on it's way to us in the very near future. They also mentioned it "might" be half the price of the current version and more "colorful". Color kindle anyone ?

StarControl

This promo has been going on for about a month now. It was talked about a lot on Amazon's Kindle blog when it was first was offered. The Giz is a bit late to the party.

I think they are preparing for the second coming but I wonder why they have made NO attempts to improve the functionality of the 1st one with firmware updates? That's always a bad sign that the seller doesn't give a crap about their products once it's out the door. I hope that 2.0 will add additional formats and better aesthetics. No big a@@ buttons either.

Noobs-R-Us

It needs to expand its audience. I believe you can only use it in the US to get the live updates. Does it work overseas ?

thesportsaffiliate

@Joseph: agreed. i have never seen anyone bragging about how cool their kindle is. plus the price tag isn't too attractive, even with the discount.

Kartune

It might be a matter of clearing stock, but more likely it's a ploy to get people to try Amazon's credit card. They'd make more money on that then they would on the Kindle. Credit cards are a racket (and yet, it's so tempting...especially since I'm buying so much from Amazon this holiday...and I'd get 3 points on every dollar!).

Gizmog