Prices of e-readers down by 40% since June 2009
No major report will be quoted, cause I haven’t found any. The numbers gathered here are a result of a private research I started exactly a year ago.
The idea was simple – to create an Amazon widget with 12 e-readers. Then I was collecting screenshots from certain days and placed them in this post. If the e-reader was no longer sold, I used a price shown in a former screenshot. As simple as that. It was designed to give a clue on how fast the prices of e-readers were going down – and to have it presented in a comparable form. Just an idea from an average e-book enthusiast.
The big news is that prices have fallen by around 40%. The major reason is a recent price war between B&N and Amazon, in my opinion taking place in view of a launch of Google Editions, which will totally change a perception of an “e-reading device”. Picking up one figure: Kindle 2 is almost three times cheaper than a year ago – $359 vs $130!
It was not so fantastic at the end of last year – prices were lower only by 15%. And this is what most of us were expecting. In a quick poll only 18% votes were given to a price drop higher than 20%.
You can check current prices at the bottom of a post. What do you think: will prices of leading devices cross a magic level of $100? »»»
How fast will prices of e-readers go down?
For updated prices please scroll down.
This is obvious that prices of e-readers will constantly go down. Just recently two new devices were launched: Cool-er from Interead and Elonex (in association with Borders UK). They are both competitively priced, $249 and $311 respectively. Although they are designed to be access points to their own e-bookstores, it’s no coincidence that Amazon has reduced overnight the price of the ugliest-ereader-ever – Kindle 1 – from $295 to $240. That was fast.
And this is the most exciting question: how much will prices of e-readers go down by the end of 2009? To make guessing simpler, I’ve collected in a beautiful widget a basket of 12 most popular e-readers available at Amazon. The total cost is not beautiful at all – on 30th of June it was $5205,71, what makes an average of $433,80.
The purpose of this post is not to give you a professional speech on the future of e-readers, but to make you excited about them (at least as much as I am). So no talking, just have fun and guess. Having a basket as a reference, please mark your vote. »»»
Recently updated Polish tech-absurdist and mobile fiction writer 3.0 beta. Addicted to ebooks and technology. Guest writer at 
Loading ...
