Kindle Ebook Reader Too Expensive

Ebook Readers - Kindle Too Expensive Says Expensive Survey

The Amazon Kindle Ebook Reader is an excellent device - Oprah was right ! But Oprah is rolling in cash. According to a recent study by Forrester ebook readers are way overpriced - current prices vary between $199 and $489. But most potential customers see this price as being far too high - the price most would be willing to pay is between $50 and $99.

This price is difficult to achieve for the simple reason that the e-ink display itself costs $60. If this price doesn't come down then ebook reader manufacturers may well start looking around for new suppliers.

According to the survey 2 million ebook readers will be sold in 2009 which will make 3 million users in total. But Amazon would sell a lot more if they brought the price down to a more reasonable $50 ! Hardly rocket science.

Apparently the first wave of Kindle owners were high-earning male and optimists but the next wave will be more likely females who read a lot but buy fewer of their books online.

This will be bad news for Amazon but good news for consumer electronics manufacturers like Sony, retailers like Wal-Mart, and publishers like Harlequin, which target these customers with eBook subscription services.

One great irony of the study is that if you want to read the whole thing it will cost you more than the Kindle ebook reader itself. The whole text of the study is available from Forrester for $499 ! May I suggest that if it were at $50 it would get a lot more customers ?

See also : Onyx Ebook Reader