Marco Arment on the new Kindles

http://www.marco.org/2011/09/28/kindle-touch-and-kindle-fire-released

by aaronbrethorst • 15 years ago

29 15 15 years ago

julianb• 15 years ago

Doesn't seem fitting to end the post with affiliate links, after criticizing Amazon for offering ad supported versions of the Kindle.

harpastum• 15 years ago

Both methods are indirect ways to make money off of the user, but affiliate links aren't really advertising. It's reasonable to include links to the products he's talking about, and it doesn't hurt the user experience of going to amazon.com.

If you buy an ad-supported kindle, you'll see ads every time you put it to sleep. If you click an affiliate link (vs a standard link to the product), there is no difference in content at all.

daeken• 15 years ago

So you'll see ads when you're not reading on the device. How does this impact the content ... ?

smackfu• 15 years ago

Not to mention the actual ad to the right of the blog post.

Is there a version of marco.org "with self-respect"? Do I need to block his ads to get that?

stephencelis• 15 years ago

We didn't spend $79 to read his blog.

Amazon offers 2 price points, emphasizes the ad-driven one, and somewhat obscures the fact that it's ad-driven. I don't see how that relates to the free (and Creative Commons free content of) marco.org, and the fact that he syndicates ads from a network he trusts there.

pbreit• 15 years ago

Marco's opinions about pricing products and services are tiresome. No, the Kindle prices are not misleading. The Kindle ads are not uncivilized or lacking self respect. Charging to use a web service is not inherently admirable.

cleverjake2• 15 years ago

I think the audio components are some of the most undervalued parts of the kindle, and I would be very sad if they removed them. Listening to my books on the drive to work replaced my stereo long ago.

sliverstorm• 15 years ago

It does look though like they have every intention of continuing to offer "premium" Kindles- they aren't just in a race to the bottom.

cleverjake2• 15 years ago

I completly agree, the article just mentions that he wanted them to remove it.

kbrower• 15 years ago

Hypocrisy aside, does anyone else find the quality of the "Special Offers" advertisements on the kindle to be higher than the norm?

kenjackson• 15 years ago

I think Marco is wrong about a few things:

1) The special offers Kindle's will become their best selling models. The offers are totally not distracting. And maybe more importantly, the offers seem to actually be quite good. Even if they special offers and non-special offers were both priced the same, I might be inclined to get the special offers Kindle.

2) There's clearly a tablet market. The iPad though is just so far better than the rest that it's a non-starter to look at anything else. Will the Kindle Fire be the first tablet that threatens it? Maybe. Depends on three things: 1) Quality of web browser. 2) Quality of email app. 3) General responsiveness. If it can nail those three then I think we can see a holiday season where Kindle Fires sell like crazy to the detriment of iPads.

I could see people saying, "I'd love an iPad, but I'd still be stoked to get a Kindle Fire." Given the $300 price delta, a lot of people may be getting the Kindle Fire.

lylejohnson• 15 years ago

> I'd still be stoked to get a Kindle Fire

That could be a clever ad line for the Fire (if, you know, enough people knew the actual definition of "stoked").

gojomo2• 15 years ago

They could get the "Dude, you're getting a Dell" guy. (Or nearly equivalently, Ashton Kutcher.)

"Dude, you're on Fire!"

gojomo2• 15 years ago

I recently got a Kindle subsidized with 'Special Offers'. I expected to hate it, but got it anyway to save a little and satisfy my curiosity about how and whether it could work as an ad channel.

When I put the cover on my Kindle, I thought to myself, "Ha! They paid me to see their ads, and yet with the cover I'll never see them!"

And yet: I do see them, every time I open the cover. And they linger for a couple seconds as it turns on. (I could avoid them with a bit more discipline – power-on then open cover – but that's a little less natural.)

They haven't been very impressive ads – perhaps because I've only been occasionally wireless-active for updates. (The ads I most remember are for some TV primetime soap premiere I'd be unlikely to ever watch, and AT&T, a company who I'm already a customer of but despise.)

But they also haven't been very annoying. Very easy to ignore, not adding any noticeably delay to my use, not distracting from usual use at all. So I actually think they have potential. They haven't made me feel, per Arment's labeling, 'uncivilized' or 'without self-respect'.

Marco Arment on the new Kindles

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