Compared to what?

I know that you can buy a netbook for a similar price, with far more functionality and not much more size.

@DarkScribe
What in the kindle cost so much?

I tend to agree that what they want for the Kindle is quite a bit of money for something significantly less featured than an iPhone or laptop computer. The Kindle’s functionality could be (and is?) matched by a simple iPhone or BlackBerry program.

Bear in mind that AT&T loans you money – not subsidizes! – when you buy an iPhone for $199. That loan is paid off over the term of your 2 year contract.

If you were to buy the same iPhone sans contract, it’d be $599 or more.

Put in that context, does the Kindle still seem so expensive?

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And yes, Amazon even offers a free Kindle app for the iPhone. But the Kindle is going to provide a much easier-to-read medium. Almost as good as paper in a book.

@robmandu
Yes, it does still seem very expensive.

The kindle doesn’t have the same competition as an iphone. It’s for a very specific purpose. I think it’s a good price, because I want something that only does X, but it does X amazingly.

@robmandu :: I kinda doubt what they charge for the iPhone. It is hard to believe that adding in the chips for the phone is hundreds of dollars more. I got a iPod Touch from Apple for $200.

And the screen is the expensive part. I bet that is the big chunk of cost for the Kindle.

$359 from Amazon. That is pretty outrageous. I’d buy one if it dropped $200. It’s not that innovative.

I like the concept but I’ll be waiting for competing products.

Why, oh why, is the Kindle 2 (just like the Kindle 1) like this? Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.

@robmandu Considering all the non-book-reading functionality of the iPhone, the Kindle is still ridiculously expensive.

@johnpowell, that may be. I don’t know manufacturing complexities. There’s something like 12–15 radio chips in an iPhone, plus the OS components to drive it all, R&D costs, yadda yadda yadda. It adds up. Plus ongoing support/maintenance, etc.

It’s telling that the Pre has the same kind of non-contract price. As well as offerings from Nokia and others. And of course, it’s a top-tier offering in any case.

All that adds up (with hefty profit, to boot)