During the holiday season last year, Amazon and Wal-Mart battled for consumers with a price war on books and DVDs.
Now, Amazon is engaged in a price war again, this time with competitor Barnes and Nobel. And this time, it’s their e-book readers that are coming down in price.
Both companies dropped the price of their e-book readers this week. Amazon has the Kindle and Barnes and Nobel has the Nook.
Early Monday, Barnes & Noble cut the in-store price for its original Nook, which has both 3G and Wi-Fi, from $259 to $199. That was not surprising, considering lower-than-expected sales of the device, says Rob Enderle, tech industry analyst.
The book retailer also announced a $149 price for a Nook with just Wi-Fi purchased online.
Amazon quickly followed Barnes & Noble’s lead by dropping the price of the Kindle from $259 to $189. Amazon asked for $399 when it launched the Kindle in 2007.
The motivation to start a price war derives from Barnes & Noble’s desire to beat Amazon to the punch in stirring e-reader sales at the start of the summer book-reading season.
“We are offering consumers greater choice and even greater value with the most full-featured, best-priced e-readers on the market,” says Tony Astarita, Barnes & Noble vice president of digital products.
A few hours after Amazon announced its price cut, Astarita reported “wonderful feedback from our customers online and in our stores.”
Barnes & Noble “could really benefit from in-store sales,” says Enderle, since impulse buying by casual shoppers accelerates for items priced under $200.
Wake me up when they get below $50 and the books are $2 bouks or less… *then* I might be interested. Right now I can get a paperback for $7, it don;t need batteries amd I can trade it in for something else when I’m done with it.
I bought my Nook in January, and have loved it. It works so much better than the other ereaders I’ve tried, and it is the ONLY one that gives you the option of sharing your ebooks with others. That, and I can buy ebooks from ANY retailer, and they’ll work on the device. Thumbs way up from me.
There’s a difference between one price war and two clearance sales.
They’re both probably trying to get rid of obsolete stock before iPad-like tablets render their current stock of devices as landfill.
Barnes and Noble not Barnes and Nobel. I’m stocking up on eBooks then!
Screw Amazon and their DRM.
I love my B&N Nook.
Got it in May and I love it like I love my iPod.
@Kenneth, you apparently are the type of person who doesn’t want to pay for anything. Good luck with that.
That having been said: there are LOTS of ebooks available for free…and BN has this thing called Free Friday when they offer an eBook for free. I just got “His Majesty’s Dragons” .
And there are always specials on digital books.
And lastly, tech-wise, the Nook is the better product.
Just sayin’.
@Dan, the Kindle and Nook are a far better devices for reading. They don’t do anything else well but for reading they are much better than reading on an iPad or any other backlit device.
That isn’t to say that I don’t read on my iPhone but that’s because it’s with me all the time. If I know I am going to have time to read or I am at home I pick up the Kindle.
I like the idea one can read any book without purchasing while within the store . . . I wonder if they track your interests and offer targeted “deals”.
However, as far as $2 books . . . as an aspiring (but not doing anything about it) writer, I think downward pressure on electronic books will eventually hurt the already struggling publishing industry . . . or rather, writers who mostly need to retain a regular job to make ends meet even after they get published.
I’ve not been too interested in the Kindle, but at $150 the Nook is more in the range where I might consider it (that’s for the Wi-Fi only version. I have no need for 3G on a reader, phone, or anything else).
We love the Nook here. So easy to use and a great display. If you all are looking for free ebooks, try :
http://www.baen.com/library/
http://manybooks.net/
The second one has some really great old pulp fiction.
Tim
The price drops are likely both a result of the new kid on the block, the Kobo. The Kobo is sold in the US through Borders and debuted at $150. It sold out almost immediately upon release and second run shipments are just getting around. Amazon and B&N’s only other real competition at the time was Sony’s line of ereaders. It’s great to see prices dropping on these devices finally. It only takes one or two inexpensive competitors to get the big guys to start dropping prices. Until now Amazon and B&N really had no reason to lower prices. When you’re one of only a few manufacturers of a specialized device you can charge whatever you want to. When the prices come down you start making your money through quantity instead.