Amazon’s new “Kindle with Special Offers” is the latest version of the hugely successful Kindle 3 e-book reader – and it allows customers to get a $ 25 discount off the price of the standard Wi-Fi only Kindle. The latest Kindle, which will start shipping on May 3, does more than let you get a Kindle for just $ 114 – it underlines some of the reasons why the Kindle is such a big hit for Amazon and prompts some questions about the method of pricing e-book readers whilst simultaneously hinting at other products which Amazon may see fit to release in future. 

The latest Kindle replaces pictures of famous authors used to decorate the screen saver pages of the standard Kindle with adverts and special offers (hence the name). There will also be ads featured near the bottom of the home page menu screen. The actual reading experience is, according to Amazon, not affected, Amazon will earn money thanks to ad revenue and extra sales, which means that consumers can get their hardware at a reduced price. Everybody wins. 

Of course, there will be those who are unhappy about the notion of adverts on their Kindle, but some people seem to dislike the entire concept of e-book readers pretty much on a point of principle. It’s a matter of personal preference when all’s said and done. In any event, anyone who is uncomfortable with adverts on the Kindle can pay a little extra and get the standard, ad-free, model. 

A number of different companies have their Kindle ad campaigns prepared and ready to launch. Procter and Gamble, Chase, Visa and General Motors are a selection of companies who want to see adverts for their products on the Kindle. However, you would suspect that a large percentage of the ads will be for special offers which are available right from Amazon’s website. 

In some respects you would have to ask why Amazon haven’t done this before now. It’s the ideal advertising platform for practically any product on sale on Amazon’s website. 

Aside from the fact that anyone who owns a Kindle is going to be in the target demographic for Kindle books, and probably any personal electronic device as well, Amazon are highly skilled at crafting personalised offers to customers based upon both their buying and browsing history. Targeted adverts, and the ability to make a purchase at the press of a button, make advertising on the Kindle a very lucrative proposition for Amazon. 

It’s an advantage which Amazon enjoys in the e-book reader market – and one which is out of the reach of many of their competitors. In some ways, you have to ask if a discount of only $ 25 is an accurate reflection of the true worth of ads on the Kindle to Amazon. Some industry watchers are already speculating that we could very well see a free Kindle reader in the near future. If the “Kindle with Special Offers” proves to be a success, then a free Kindle, possibly with some strings attached – such as a minimum number of Kindle book purchases per annum – may not only be a possibility, but might be here faster than you think. 

And, as exciting as the opportunity to get a free Kindle reader may be, the success of Amazon’s sponsorship efforts has even more wide reaching implications. The prospect that Amazon will release their own tablet computer has moved beyond the realms of speculation and rumor to an event that seems to carry an air of inevitability about it. James Kendrick of ZDNet went as far as to say that “Amazon would be remiss in not producing its own tablet.”. 

By closely coupling a new Amazon tablet with the Amazon store, Amazon would have the opportunity to sell it at a considerably lower price than their competitors. It could be another big winner for Amazon.