Amazon rushes to cut International Kindle price to stave off B&N nook sales
Either Amazon felt a sudden surge of generosity, or else the etailer is scared out of its wits by the Barnes & Noble nook e-reader.
It has only been two days since Barnes & Noble officially announced the nook e-reader, and Amazon already seems to be a bit nervous about it.
The nook has a list price of $259, which matches the United States version of the Amazon Kindle. The International Kindle, which works in over 100 countries, has a price tag of $279, but suddenly not only has that price dropped to $259 also, but everyone who bought an International Kindle also got a $20 refund this morning.
Engadget is reporting that International Kindle buyers got the following email this morning:
Good news! Due to strong customer demand for our newest Kindle with U.S. and international wireless, we are consolidating our family of 6″ Kindles. As part of this consolidation, we are lowering the price of the Kindle you just purchased from $279 down to $259. You don’t need to do anything to get the lower price–we are automatically issuing you a $20 refund. This refund should be processed in the next few days and will appear as a credit on your next billing statement.
Sure this could be unrelated to the nook, and I could also be a monkey’s uncle.
Besides the price drop, it was believed that the International Kindle had had its web browsing capabilities disabled, but suddenly users are finding themselves being able to go to the English version of Wikipedia. So far you aren’t able to go to any other web sites, but it makes you wonder if that might change at a later date.
It looks like Amazon is telling us just how serious a contender the Barnes & Noble nook really is, and while they have made some customers very happy, was it wise to let those undecided consumers in on this tidbit of information?
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