Almost all the Kindles come with two options, you can either pay about $30-$50 extra for an ad-free version or you can save that $30-$50 but have advertisements displayed on your Kindle screensaver and homepage. I have set up a poll for everyone to answer the question of whether they would prefer to get a discount at the price of having ads permanently installed in their device. Here is a breakdown of the current prices as of this post (subject to change or error of course):
The
basic Kindle is $79 with ads and $109 without, a $30 difference ( 27.5% savings).
The
Kindle Keyboard without 3G is $99 with ads and $139 without, a $40 difference (28.8% savings).
The
Kindle Keyboard 3G is $139 with ads and $189, a $50 difference (26.5% savings).
The
Kindle Touch without 3G and the is $99 with ads and $139 without, a $40 difference (28.8% savings).
The
Kindle Touch 3G is $149 with ads and $189 without, a $40 difference (21.2% savings).
The new
Kindle Fire does not have an ad option as far as I know.
What do you think of this offer overall? Do you prefer to have the option of getting a discount in return for allowing ads to be installed on your device, do you dislike the idea of commercialism going so far as to require per-installation of adware on physical devices, or do you not care either way? It is not that unusual of a concept. Over-the-air TV is often free but with ads, whereas you can pay for premium, ad-free channels such as HBO or buy an over-the-air TV show on DVD ad-free.
Is anyone familiar with the exact rules and methodology of these ads? I do not have a Kindle, but I assume the device can be fairly easily rooted and then have the ads removed presumably at the expense of giving up the warranty; is that true? If it is true, is it legal? If it isn't legal, how do you feel about being so legally limited with what you can do with something you bought in the privacy of your own home?