Takeaway: Find out why Donovan Colbert thinks Amazon's new Kindle Wi-Fi (with special offers) will be one of the most questionable advertising campaigns of this holiday season.
Special offers?!? That sounds awesome! Where do I sign up? I wonder what the special offers are? And why is the Kindle that includes special offers less expensive than the same Kindle that doesn't have any special offers at all?
In what is likely to be one of the most questionable advertising campaigns of this holiday season — and one that might tarnish what looks to have been an otherwise flawless roll-out of the Kindle Fire color Android tablet — Amazon has rolled out an aggressive marketing strategy that includes various Kindle markets priced at very attractive points for the Christmas holidays.
The Kindle 3G (as a line and as a specific Kindle) offers one singular advantage — the ability to download a book over a free 3G "whisphernet" connection anywhere you can get a 3G signal, which is pretty cool. This $189 device also has an experimental browser, but honestly, browsing on a Kindle browser with an e-Ink display, even with free 3G, isn't a great pleasure. The 3G connection may be snappy, but the e-Ink refresh is pretty intolerably slow for web pages. Arguably, I think the 3G line will only appeal to people who really want to be able to download a new book, whenever and wherever they are, without having to find a local McDonald's, Starbuck's, or other Wi-Fi hotspot.
Next, we have the Kindle Wi-Fi. This device is $139, and it offers all of the same features as the more expensive 3G version. The only difference, as mentioned above, is that you have to find a Wi-Fi hotspot to download a new book. The only place I really see this being a hassle is if you're out camping in a very remote location and you decide at the last minute that you've got to read the latest NY Times #1 Best Seller. Heck, even in a case like that, what are the odds that you'll be able to get a 3G signal, anyhow? For $50 difference, I just can't see a lot of people making the 3G choice for an eReader with only a few basic tablet functions..........
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/tablets/amazons-new-kindle-wi-fi-with-special-offers-is-too-good-to-be-true/435
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