Is Amazon disingenuous with the new Kindle prices?

[Matthew]

I'm drooling at the mouth probably as much as everyone else with he announcements of the new Kindles. A $79 Kindle!!!! A $99 Kindle touch!!!!! $149 Touch w/ 3G!!!!

The blogs were all going nuts about it and spamming us with the information. People were writing home B&N's doom. Even on Amazon's homepage the are sort of advertising these prices.

I have to say though as I went to the Kindle page's on Amazon's sight I found that all of those advertised prices were for the "ad supported" versions of each device. If you look closely you will find that the non-ad-supported versions are $109 for the Kindle, $139 for the Touch and $189 for the Touch 3G.

Anyone else find this just a bit slimy? Too many parents and grandparents are going to purchase these ad-supported versions for their kids without even knowing it. Just seems a bit, I dunno, off-putting from a company that normally is known for being very forthright with its customers.

[Nick]

It says on the site what prices are for what. While they are emphasizing the cheaper ad supported ones I don't see it as being sneaky. I doubt very many of those parent/grandparents would change their mind once the ad supported models are explained to them. The ad's only show up on the sleep screen for the kindles. I prefer the default kindle sleep screen art myself but the ad's could be a lot more intrusive. At least there isn't a banner at the top or bottom of the book text as you are reading. You get a lot more advertising thrown at you anywhere you go on the web. The ad supported models are still a great value for the money.

[Brandon]

I don't think they are hiding it at all they clearly say add supported and show the option to buy it without adds on the same page.

I have also seen on their sight a chart comparing all of the kindle products and listing the multiple price point for each with and without special offers.

The other thing is the special offers do not interfere with reading they are the screen saver and on the home screen. It's not like in the middle of reading you get a pop up add.

I am not sure what you expect them to do differently. Their product page clearly says with special offers and easily let's the customer opt for a no add version. Nothing is hidden in small print at the bottom of the page etc...