Amazon has announced it will sell two new models of their popular Kindle e-reader beginning tomorrow, with one costing just $139, the cheapest price yet for a Kindle device.
To justify the price of the Kindle Wi-Fi, Amazon has removed the ability to connect to the Internet via 3G cell networks, making it Wi-Fi only.
The second model will replace the Kindle 2 and include 3G access, and will sell for $189.
Each new model is slimmer and include higher contrast screens and “crisper text.” Both have six-inch screens, but weigh 15 percent less and are 21 percent slimmer. Each also has twice the storage of the original Kindles, allowing for up to 3500 books to be stored.
Says CEO Jeff Bezos: “The hardware business for us has been so successful that we’re going to continue. I predict there will be a 10th-generation and a 20th-generation Kindle. We’re well-situated to be experts in purpose-built reading devices.”
The Kindle Wi-Fi is now cheaper than both the rival Nook and the lesser rival Sony Reader, and over $250 cheaper than the Apple iPad.
Pre-prders start tomorrow, and both devices ship August 27th.
Result for: hardware
Although hardware saw a nice jump for the month, NPD has reported that June U.S. video game industry sales continued the long term downtrend, with overall sales falling 6 percent year-on-year (YoY), to $1.1 billion USD.
Hardware sales saw a nice five percent pop, to $401.7 million, and accessories saw a similar jump to $169.6 million.
Software dragged the entire industry down, falling 15 percent YoY to $531.3 million.
On the hardware side, the DS series led the way, at 510,700 units sold. The Xbox 360 saw a nice boost, moving to 451,700 units sold, beating out the Wii, which sold 422,500 units for the period.
Following behind were the Sony consoles, with the PS3 at 304,800 and the dying PSP handheld at 121,000.
On the software side, Red Dead Redemption continues to be a blockbuster, selling almost a million more units in June.
Full figures via GameSpot:
OVERALL DOLLAR SALES
Games: $1.1 billion (-6%)
Hardware: $401.7 million (+5%%)
Software: $531.3 million (-15%%)
Accessories: $169.6 million (+6%)
[More]>>
Result for: hardware
If you have been following AfterDawn over the past two weeks, you have undoubtedly read about “antennagate,” Apple’s ongoing iPhone 4 situation.
The iPhone 4, due to flawed hardware engineering, drops phone calls when held in the left hand, as your hand covers the antenna.
Yesterday, CEO Steve Jobs announced the company would be providing free cases to iPhone 4 buyers, as the bumpers would eliminate the antenna issues.
Jobs says the number of dropped calls per dials is tiny, but so far the problem has been a PR disaster for Apple.
Whoopi Goldberg, of the popular TV show “The View,” went on a rant yesterday about the iPhone and its dropped calls, saying it made her so angry that she threw the phone out of her car, “murdering” it.
