Old-school book readers are facing a new worm on the hook to bait them into crossing the digital divide.
TechCrunch's Jason Kincaid has unearthed a targeted Amazon.com
Now, before you begin thinking that the leading online retailer has gone off the deep end, let's break down why this is a brilliant move by Amazon.
- The offer, apparently, is only going out to folks who purchased a lot of physical books from Amazon.com last year. In other words, Amazon is hoping to replace the typically subsidized shipping of marked-down books with higher-margin reads that it can deliver digitally.
- Despite the temptation of asking for a complete refund, I'm guessing that most of these loyal Amazon customers would feel wrong about requesting their money back -- yet the generous offer of checking it out will be difficult to refuse.
- Targeting only frequent readers should result in a heavy volume of purchases for e-books and digital newspaper and magazine subscriptions, even by those who decide to keep their "unloved" Kindles for free.
In a nutshell, it's a brilliant campaign in a desperate disguise. It's probably not a coincidence that the promotion ends on Monday night -- just two days before Apple
The Kindle maker has been able to fend off Sony
Amazon has been moving aggressively as the clock counts down toward Apple's announcement. It went as far as offering free overnight shipping for orders placed the day before Christmas Eve. Earlier this week, it nearly doubled the royalty to e-book authors and publishers -- probably tripping up Apple in its own negotiations with book and newspaper companies.
We have yet to establish the ceiling on e-books. Are the days numbered for real-world booksellers Barnes & Noble, Borders Group
Is Amazon.com crazy for seemingly giving away Kindles over the next few days? No. It knows exactly who it has in its crosshairs, and what they're collectively worth on its mantle.
Did you get Amazon's money-back offer? Share your experiences in the comments box below.
