The Digital Reader

But Amazon aren’t the one giving it away.

For the longest time I’ve said that Amazon wouldn’t give away the Kindle and so far I’ve been right.TBF, every time I’ve argued against it, one or more commenters have suggested that it would be “given away” under a cell phone style monthly contract. That is what’s happening here.

Yesterday Carphone Warehouse announced that they would be carrying the Kindle at both CW and their Best Buy UK stores (which they own in partnership with Best Buy). As you might expect from a chain that sell cell phones, you will be able to get the Kindle Wifi for “free” with a contract of £15 per month for 24 months. You can even get the Kindle 3G for £15 more.

The upside here is that the £15 per month is for both the Kindle and a phone. In the US that would be a pretty good deal.

But the downside is that the “free” Kindle costs £360. That’s not exactly cheap.

It took me a while to get this info; 3 different sets of contract numbers were reported in 4 different places.