Hasta La Gadget!

After speculation and rumor, Target has at last confirmed that it will sell Amazon’s Kindle in its bricks and mortar stores. It will cost the same $260 as Amazon would charge you, but you at least get to try before you buy, and you don’t have to wait for the mailman to show up.

And this is likely the whole point. The e-reader market has shifted from early adopters to the mainstream, and if you want to interest people like my mother in buying a brand-new kind of device, you’ll have to put it in their hands first. Us gadget freaks may be happy to pre-order $500 devices without even seeing them, but we’re the weirdos here.

The Kindle will be available in “select” Target stores from this Sunday. In reality, this means the flagship store in Minneapolis plus another 102 stores in South Florida. Putting the Kindle in real stores will also showcase it against the iPad (although not in the same store of course – iPad is currently in Best Buy only, which also sells the Nook), which is going to prove the main rival for the Kindle.

It’s an unusual move by Amazon, though, especially as it pioneered the idea of trustworthy online shopping. It’s also proof that the online retailer is willing to take a cut in profits to push its hardware, despite the availability of Kindle software on most modern platforms.

Target Stores to Sell Kindle [Businesswire]

See Also:

• Best Buy to Sell Nook, Target Bags Kindle?

Photo:Charlie Sorrel

Looks like that blurry leak we got was dead-on: Target and Amazon just officially announced that the Kindle will be sold in the Minneapolis Target flagship store and 102 southern Florida stores starting April 25, with the rest of the chain getting units as the year goes on. That’s the first time Jeff Bezo’s e-reader will be sold in a brick-and-mortar store, a big step for Amazon we’re taking as a response to Barnes & Noble’s heavy in-store promotion of the Nook — although Target already carries the Sony Reader line, so it’s not totally crazy. We’ll see how this affects sales in the months to come — and whether or not Target follows this up by selling the iPad as well. Full press release after the break.

Update: A kind, anonymous tipster has sent us in that little photo of what appears to be the Kindle’s Target packaging. Thanks!

Continue reading Kindle officially going on sale at Target on April 25

Kindle officially going on sale at Target on April 25 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Two separate reports from Engadget report that Target will start selling the Amazon Kindle on April 25 and Best Buy will start selling the Barnes & Noble Nook on April 18.

The blog published a screen shot of a Target inventory listing, which showed the Amazon Kindle for $259. Engadget also got its hands on a picture of a similar shot from Best Buy’s inventory, which listed the Nook.

A spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble said, “We have not made any announcements,” while Best Buy said, “As a matter of media policy, we are unable to comment on rumor or speculation.” Target also said it “doesn’t have anything to share at this time and doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation.” Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Target has been selling the Sony Reader Digital Book PRS-505 at its stores since Sept. 14, 2008, as well as Reader accessories like eBook Store prepaid cards, lighted covers, USB cables, AC chargers, and holders for those cables and chargers.

The Nook is currently available online and in Barnes & Noble bookstores. The Kindle can be purchased directly from Amazon.com, but it not available in brick-and-mortar stores. The Apple iPad, which includes e-book functionality, can be purchased online, at Apple retail stores, and at Best Buy.

Say what you will, the past couple of days have been littered with signs of a rapidly expanding set of functions that the iPad can perform. Latest on the block is the iDisplay desktop extender, which will turn any of your iPhone OS devices into a WiFi-connected second monitor, allowing you to finally unchain your Mac OS (Windows version forthcoming) desktop and take it on the move. Introductory price is $4.99 and you’ll find an early hands-on experience at the TUAW link. Next up we have the Kindle for iPhone app contracting its name to just Kindle and making the expected jump to iPad compatibility with version 2.0, which comes with iBookstore-like page turning and, best of all, won’t cost you a thing. We’ve also got word of Time Magazine pricing what’s free on the iPhone at $4.99 per issue on the iPad, with the excuse being that you can “experience Time in a revolutionary new way.” Good luck with that, we say.

Continue reading iPad roundup: iDisplay extended desktop, plus Kindle and Time reader apps

iPad roundup: iDisplay extended desktop, plus Kindle and Time reader apps originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 19:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Time to add HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster to the list of publishers who’ve managed to strongarm Amazon into acceding to their supposedly industry-saving agency pricing model. Under the new agreement, you might still see e-book versions of bestsellers priced at the familiar $9.99, but the majority will be jumping up to $12.99 and $14.99 price points, depending on the publisher’s discretion. This is essentially the same deal that brought Macmillan books back to Amazon.com, and the e-tailer is believed to also be in advanced negotiations with Hatchette Book Group and Penguin Group to ensure that no book is left behind. This development was cryptically predicted by Steve Jobs mere hours after the iPad’s launch and then reiterated by Rupert Murdoch with regard to HarperCollins, so we can’t exactly act surprised now, but we can at least grimace a little at having to face a more expensive e-reading future.

Amazon agrees to agency pricing model with two more publishers, Jobs prophecy coming to pass originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Apr 2010 03:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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