Amazon has made a practice of cutting Kindle prices to generate more interest in the device. No matter how much discount consumers get from Amazon, many still complain about Kindle being too expensive. That’s going to be a harder case to argue if Amazon does manage to lower Kindle’s price to $150. Freescale Semiconductor, whose products power the majority of e-readers on the market, has claimed that e-reader prices could drop to below $150 with the new processors that the company has developed specifically for e-book readers.

With the ARM core running at 800 MHz, the i.MX508 provides twice the rendering performance of Freescale’s previous eReader processors, resulting in faster page turns and snappy responsiveness for consumers. The increased processing capability also gives manufacturers the additional performance to add features like advanced touch solutions and the ability to run other value-added applications.

That’s quite interesting as Amazon Kindle 3 is expected to feature touch capability and Kindle apps. So the new processor does seem to be a good step forward for Amazon.

In the past few weeks, we have gone from discussing how Nook is better than Kindle (or the other way around) to what Amazon is going to do to keep its e-book prices low. A few publishers did manage to force Amazon to allow them to set their own prices for their e-books. It certainly doesn’t seem as if  Amazon could control those large publishers, considering that they can go to competing platforms such as the iPad and Sony Reader. But according to Times, Amazon has been working hard to make publishers offer their lowest prices to Kindle owners:

Amazon has been pushing publishers to sign a new round of legal agreements that would guarantee that the Kindle price for their content is always the same or lower than the price on other electronic reading devices, such as the iPad or the Sony Reader.

So if all publishers decide to set their minimum e-book price to $14.99, Amazon wants to make sure Kindle owners won’t find lower prices for those e-books.

Credit: CNET

If you are addicted to reading, you have probably enjoyed taking advantage of Scribd. It’s a powerful community to give you access to all kinds of information. Whether you are looking for independent work, slides, or mini e-books, there is a good chance to can find something useful on Scribd. Thanks to the new mobile app released by Scribd, you can now send content to your e-book readers without too much hassle. Plenty of platforms are supported, so whether you own a Nook or an iPhone, you can now send non-copyrighted content to your mobile device with just a few clicks.

Credit: PC World

It’s no secret that when something becomes “cool,” companies jump on its bandwagon to capitalize. e-book readers are cool these days. Kindle and other early e-readers have helped make them more mainstream that they were ever before. Nowadays, every new device aims to compete with those devices. You can now consider Nintendo among companies that are targeting the e-book market. Nintendo DSi XL which will makes its debut in the U.S. in March is not only a gaming device, but it’s capable of handling e-books as well.

The device, which is expected to sell for $189, gives its owners the ability to read classic books on their gaming device. It does have a larger screen in comparison to its predecessor, so it does have the potential to be a mini e-reader. No matter how exciting the device sounds, even Nintendo officials know that they can’t be serious about taking on Kindle and iPad.

We all want to get a discount on everything that we buy. After all, why would anyone want to spend more money than they have to? Amazon has dropped its Kindle prices by $140 in the past few years. But $259 is still a high price to pay for those who are skeptic about the platform or just don’t read books much. So it’s no wonder that many look for Kindle discounts before picking up their own from Amazon. There is nothing wrong with trying to save some money with your purchase of a Kindle. But you want to make sure you don’t fall for too good to be true offers that are out there on the market. If you have searched for Kindle discounts on Google, you have probably seen those offers.

A search for the term “Kindle” produced two sponsored search listings promising huge discounts on Kindle. If you could save 90% on your Kindle, wouldn’t you be tempted to check out these listings? But a lot of these offers are too good to be true. Nobody likes a scam, but that’s usually what you get with these astonishing offers. I admit, I was tempted to figure out what was being sold for $64.95. I was sure it can’t be a real Kindle 2. To my surprise, the site was offering a Kindle 2 in new condition for $65. But here is what I was able to find in the site’s terms and conditions:

Rumors have been flying across the Web about the possibility of Amazon getting a platform upgrade. The source of these rumors seems to be the latest development between Amazon and Microsoft. The companies have reached a patent agreement that not only covers Linux but also Kindle as well. Many have assumed that the move could be an indication that Amazon may be willing to work with Microsoft to take on Apple. Of course, the real purpose of this deal for Amazon is probably to shield itself against Linux lawsuits by Microsoft. 

We have heard a lot about how publishers are not satisfied with how much money they are making from their e-books on Amazon, and how they want to have more control over their e-books’ prices on Amazon and other e-book stores. Amazon did make $9.99 e-books a big part of its campaign to sell more Kindles, so it’s not a surprise that some are not happy with how things have turned out with some publishers. According to NY Times, some readers have even gone out of their way to leave negative feedback for authors whose books are getting a price hike or are selling for more than $9.99. While that’s not exactly productive, it goes on to show that consumers want to get a fair deal with e-books.

So what’s the fair price for e-books? I have tabled this question to many of my colleagues and our readers in the past. There doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer to that question. What is clear is the fact that book buyers are not ready to pay the same price for e-books and paper books.

I want to pay what it’s worth. If it costs them nothing to print the paper book, which I can’t believe, then they should be the same price. But I just don’t see how it can be the same price.