Amazon has launched Kindle Daily Deal, offering readers one considerably reduced ebook each day at its Kindle store. The online retailer has also rolled out its daily deals offering – AmazonLocal – to more locations in America, with plans to operate in thirty locations in ten different states, all within three months of its June launch in Idaho.
Every day a new deal will be offered around midday, which will be promoted across various social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, to let people know which books are available and what type of savings you can take advantage of. The first book offered was a children’s book, titled “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane”, discounted from $6.99 to just $1.39. That’s a massive 75% markdown!
Personally, I find it an odd choice to start with as I would have thought that offering an ebook aimed at adults would breed more interest, although the author is a Newbery award winner.
However, what’s interesting is that the title has a complicated layout and has been optimised for reading on devices with larger screens such as Kindle DX and iPad. This has prompted much speculation about Amazon launching a tablet in the near future.
There have been rumours circulating for the past couple of months about the possibility of Amazon creating a tablet, best served for its Kindle users. Now it has launched Kindle Daily Deals a launch seems more likely than ever.
It makes sense really, seeing as Amazon could easily capitalise on all of its ebook customers, as well as its current database of consumers to market to. I think it would be really beneficial for them to launch a tablet, which is geared up specifically for its Kindle store, enhancing the experience as much as possible for readers. There are lots of creative ways for Amazon to make their tablet stand out for people who love reading online, and this would open doors for them to market to the people who haven’t bought a Kindle or a tablet yet.
But is there room in the market for another tablet?
Perhaps Amazon could learn a lesson from HP’s TouchPad, and instead of pricing their tablet in the same region as the iPad, set the price in the region of $200 to attract all the money-conscious people who haven’t dipped into the market yet. By selling their tablet at a lower price, they will be able to tempt those people, but make up for it in ebook sales.
Either way, things are definitely going well for Amazon and the future looks even brighter for them.
What do you think? Do you think the tablet market is already overcrowded? Would you like to see Amazon launch its own tablet?