Well, the Kindle 3 will finally be available at Best Buy where prospective Kindle owners can compare and contrast it with the Nook, the Sony 650, and the Sony 350.
It’s a pretty good deal for Amazon, Best Buy, and for customers.
Pluses of Kindle 3 being at Best Buy
There are lots and lots of good things to come out of this -
- Customers will be able to compare Kindle 3, Nook (and soon Nook 2), and Sony 650 side by side. The Sony 650 is the best looking but the Kindle 3 will win most of those battles when you factor in price and features. There’s always the possibility Nook 3 surprises all of us and beats both Kindle 3 and Sony 650.
- Amazon gets another important retail channel. Target was a valuable addition. Staples was good for business customers. Best Buy might be more important than both.
- Best Buy gets to tout itself as – The one place to visit to find your perfect reading solution.
- Best Buy gets an opportunity to carve out a slice from all the Kindle 3 and Kindle WiFi sales.
- Amazon gets to be in a store Nook and Sony Reader already are in.
The last point is rather important.
It was critical for Amazon to get Kindle 3 into Best Buy
Best Buy was selling iPads and Nooks and Sony Readers and by not being available at Best Buy the Kindle 3 was missing out on a lot of sales.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for Kindle 3 is to fight the perception battle that eInk is not very different from LCD and that Kindle 3 isn’t very good. Being in retail stores is great. Being in retail stores where users can see the difference between Kindle 3 and other reading devices is even better.
You also have the factor where users feel Nook vs Sony Reader vs iPad is enough of a comparison and the bother of checking up on Kindle 3 isn’t worth it. Now, it’s right there so they will factor it in before making a purchase.
Kindle 3 at Best Buy – The Details
David Kaplan at MocoNews talks about Kindle at Best Buy -
- He mentions that Best Buy will add the Kindle this Fall.
- Best Buy will position itself as the only store that has Kindle, Sony Reader, and Nook.
- It’s starting with Kindle 3 and Kindle WiFi. Kindle DX 2 will be added later.
- In its press release (link available at the MocoNews article linked to above) Best Buy mentions that Kindle won Consumer Reports’ Best eReader recommendation. Have no idea if that’s true.
- Best Buy’s Senior VP of Home Entertainment had this to say -
“Our goal is to help people choose the device that’s right for them by providing the broadest selection of popular e-readers of any retailer, in one convenient place that enables people to easily see, touch, try and buy.”
What about hear and smell and sense and feel?
It’s quite an advantage for Best Buy to have all 3 of the Big 3 eReaders available at its stores. It’s pretty crucial to the Kindle 3′s future to be available at Best Buy. It’s a great match.
Filed under: availability Tagged: | ereader retail presence, kindle availability
