KDX $50 off, KPW23G shortages this season?
Hmm….
“Hey, buddy…you look like somebody who enjoys a classic. You want your page turn buttons? You want text-to-speech? How about free 3G…for web surfing, not just shopping? Want to carry 3,500 books with you? You hate that backlit screen? Tired of e-mails interrupting your reading? Well, I’ve got just the thing for you…and it’s fifty bucks off!”
Kindle DX, Free 3G, 9.7″ E Ink Display, 3G Works Globally
Yep…you can get the big screen Kindle DX for $189 right now.
Sure, the software is from the Bronze Age of EBRs (E-Book Readers), but this is a relatively good deal on it.
However, this other RSK (Reflective Screen Kindle…not a Fire) news is…intriguing.
You can order the Kindle Paperwhite 2 right now. It’s shipping in 7 to 10 days (I gave you a heads-up that I thought there might be shortages this year, or at least a need to order early). I’ve already got mine.
You know what Amazon has taken off of the front and center for ordering?
The Kindle Paperwhite 2…with 3G.
They used to have it on the “family stripe”, the image links at the top of a Kindle product page that show you the other Kindles.
You couldn’t pre-order it, but you could sign up to get an e-mail when it was released (I did).
Now?
It’s gone.
They have the current generation KPW3G up there instead.
When I click the link from my post,
Which Kindle should you buy? Fall 2013
it still takes me to the next gen model…still says it will be released November 5th…and now I can pre-order it! (I don’t think Amazon sent me an e-mail on that, by the way, I checked my Inbox).
What does this say to me?
They are worried about shortfalls this holiday season.
Why else would you stop promoting a model…that isn’t even released until November 5th?
My guess is that demand for the KPW2 is higher than Amazon expected…maybe a lot higher.
Perhaps people at Amazon were wondering where the market was for non-tablets, and they underestimated it.
The wi-fi only KPW2 is the 2nd best-selling electronic at Amazon as I write this (still behind Google’s Chromecast, as I first reported a couple of weeks ago…making it seem more likely to me that Amazon will release a cheap TV gadget this holiday season incorporating Miracast for their Kindle HDX line).
The list is intriguing: I would have thought the Kindle Fire HDX 7″, HDX Display, Wi-Fi, 16 GB – Includes Special Offers, being the new technology, would have been the most popular of the Fire tablets, but it’s not.
That honor (at #3 on the list) belongs to the least expensive one, the Kindle Fire HD 7″, HD Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB – Includes Special Offers. That one doesn’t have the live onscreen tech help called Mayday, or a camera. The difference might just be that you can get the KFHD now (it was released October 2nd), and the KFHDX won’t be out until October 18th (that’s when I’m supposed to get mine, since I ordered right away…current orders are scheduled for October 28th).
I doubt that’s all of it, though…you would think people would wait on a tablet purchase, even if they are less expensive than they used to be.
It might also be a case of people buying from online reviews.
My guess is still that the lowest priced KFHDX will be the bestseller of the Fires during the holiday season…but $90 less to drop that X 😉 (KFHD versus KFHDX) may push the less expensive one to the top of the heap.
I’m thinking, though, that the reviews of KFHDX will help it…if it performs as advertised (Mayday has got to work well, and work well right away).
Let me just say this: if you want a Kindle (Fire or not), or even an accessory for this holiday season, don’t wait. Pre-order now.
I think it’s going to quite a year…
Update: thanks to reader Judy Schechter for a comment that helped improve this post.
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
I Love My Kindle 
October 10, 2013 at 3:41 pm |
Amazon *did* send me an email when the 3G paperwhite (new) was avaiable to pre-order, and that’s when I did. Unless I misunderstood what you were saying…
October 10, 2013 at 4:11 pm |
Thanks for writing, Denise!
It sounds like you understood me. It is just that you got an email and I didn’t. 🙂
October 10, 2013 at 7:58 pm |
I thought I’d wait to see what the new iPad has in store on the 22nd. Hmmm… I hope they get collections going on their server. I had a lot of free cookbooks on my iPad 3, but when they goofed up that one update, it wiped off all my books on the iPad. So now my MYK page has 4000 books that need to be organized! If they would have collections on my MYK page, I wouldn’t need them on my Kindle app and could keep minimal books on it like you do.
Thanks for the heads up on the KPW23G!
October 11, 2013 at 2:05 am |
Thanks for writing, Pam!
Amazon has announced that Cloud Collections are coming. They say:
“COMING SOON—Organize your content library into Collections like “Favorite Books” and “Sports Apps” that are synchronized with your other Kindle devices and reading apps.”
However, it’s not entirely clear what that is. 🙂 I don’t know for sure that you will see Collections when you go to MYK, or if they are only visible on the devices.
We’ll see…
October 11, 2013 at 2:40 am
Bufo, wouldn’t it make more sense to have cloud collections on the MYK page? That way you don’t load up the Kindle and cause slow response trying to index through all those books (like I’ve done on my K3!). Or maybe I’m missing something.
October 11, 2013 at 2:15 pm
Thanks for writing, Pam!
I’d like to see Collections actually on the MYK page…but I don’t know yet if that’s how it will work.
In terms of doing it on the device, that could work if it doesn’t require the book files to be present on the device. There’s no reason it couldn’t be done that way, although the current implementation does have the Collection refer to present files.
October 10, 2013 at 10:54 pm |
Hi Bufo! I received the 2nd Generation KFHD 7″, 16 GB last Thursday & about 2 days ago I started downloading Prime videos. Maybe not everybody had their device ‘s software updated yet. Anyway, I wanted you & your readers to be aware of this wonderful new capability. Being able to watch without needing WIFI is very convenient! 😉
October 11, 2013 at 2:12 am |
Thanks for writing, Judy!
Yes, I’m definitely planning on writing more about that…it’s more complex than people might at first imagine. I was going to wait until the KFHDX starts rolling out next week, but perhaps I’ll do it before then.
Oh, and to be clear, at this point people with current tablets (yours is the new generation) are not getting a software update that will allow it. Amazon says
“Prime Instant Video Downloads
NEW—Prime members can now download hundreds of Prime Instant Video movies and TV shows on the all-new Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HDX tablets to watch anywhere—on a plane, on vacation, or in the car. Prime Instant Video is the only U.S. online video subscription streaming service that offers offline viewing, and it’s included at no additional cost.”
These are the details:
Amazon Help Page
There are limits on how long you can have them, how many you can have, and on how many devices you can have them at a time. It also isn’t available on every Prime video title.
Still think it’s going to be a great thing, but many people may expect more…
October 11, 2013 at 7:28 am
You’re right, Amazon probably won’t be sending an over the air software update to the first gen KFHD that would allow Prime video downloads. When I mentioned that maybe not all new KFHD’s received the software update yet, I was referring to the new model. I read that Amazon doesn’t send out all software updates to every customer at once..
Anyway, since you wrote that only HDXs will be able to download Prime videos, I wanted to let everyone know that the new, 2nd Generation KFHD does indeed have this capability!
October 11, 2013 at 1:22 pm
Thanks for writing, Judy!
In the beginning, it was quite…unclear from Amazon as to which devices would be able to do what. I did see some clarification from them later, but it’s possible I wrote something that has become outdated.
Could you tell me where I wrote “…only HDXs will be able to download Prime videos”? I’d like to be able to correct it.
I’m not finding it right away as I look.
There may also have been some confusion between your HD (which is the new generation) and the 8.9″ HD, which is not.
October 11, 2013 at 5:42 pm
Hi Bufo, under “Which Kindle should you buy? Fall 2013”, go to the paragraph that starts with, “That honor (at #3 on the list) belongs to the least expensive one, the Kindle Fire HD 7″, HD Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB – Includes Special Offers. That one doesn’t have the …………….., and you won’t be able to download ‘no additional cost’ Prime videos to it.”
There has been a lot of confusion about which model has which features! You’re doing a great job breaking it all down, and I thank you!
In fact I’m returning the 2nd Generation KFHD I just received because it doesn’t have all the new features I thought it would have.
Amazon even gave me a $15 promotional credit to apply to the Kindle Fire HDX 7″, 16GB I pre-ordered due to all the confusion ‘re the features listed on the 2nd Generation KFHD’s product page.
October 11, 2013 at 6:58 pm
Thanks for writing, Judy!
Got it, and I’ve credited you. 🙂
Yours isn’t the only credit I’ve seen offered to people because of the confusion…but that doesn’t mean you should feel any less special. 😉
October 11, 2013 at 12:55 am |
I was just reading and when I go to amazon all new paper white with 3G. It is 189. With SO. And you can order!
Do you think that text to speech will come back to rsks?
October 11, 2013 at 2:13 pm |
Thanks for writing, Curryanne!
Yes, you can get to it at Amazon, although I just double-checked and the family stripe still shows the last generation.
I do think we’ll see an inexpensive text-to-speech solution from Amazon, and I would hope that would be with something that includes a sight-reading option.
I think the key may be not including on-board speakers, which I think would work (people would use headphones or Bluetooth/cable out to other sounds systems).
October 11, 2013 at 4:46 am |
I read elsewhere that the KDX price reduction is only good through 10/15? Amazon’s pricing and selling strategies for the KDX over the last half year or so have been perplexing to me( for a while there the product wasn’t even offered). The price has continued to ratchet down.
I wonder if this latest pricing move might be a “final” inventory clearance in advance of some replacement product? How about a 9″ Kindle Paperwhite 2? Could the ramp-up of a new paperwhite explain the availability vagaries of existing paperwhites?
If Amazon wants to poach on other’s announcement events, Microsoft has the Windows 8.1 launch on 10/17-18, and Apple has the new iPads on 10/22 (:grin).
I expect at least one more H/W product announcement from Amazon this holiday season, but it’s all guesswork — as usual Amazon is holding its cards pretty close 😀
I wonder whether Liquavista will make an appearance this year?
October 11, 2013 at 2:20 pm |
Thanks for writing, Edward!
A large screen Paperwhite is a possibility…although dropping the KDX means dropping other things people like right now. Would a large screen Paperwhite have sound? Would it have physical page turn buttons?
We have to consider the possibility that “free 3G” is becoming a model that doesn’t work for Amazon. They would continue to support it devices people already own, but stop selling models with it.
That’s just speculation, though… 🙂
October 12, 2013 at 1:47 am
3G isn’t very “free” anymore! It’s an add’l $70 on the new PW2 and I think it was $50 extra before on the K3’s. With the great availability of wifi and the PW not being a tablet where everything depends on a connection, I decided to just buy the wifi PW2 tonight. I must say it’s easier on the eyes.
October 12, 2013 at 3:04 am
Thanks for writing, Pam!
Well, ever since we’ve had a choice, the 3G models have been more expensive.
However, in the case of the KDX, there hasn’t been a wi-fi one. The use of the 3G continues to be free to the customer, after the initial purchase.
As you point out, though wi-fi is becoming much more common…and there may be a significant downward trend in those willing to pay that initial premium price.