Jeff Bezos shows off the Kindle Fire HD at 9/6/12 event.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET )
Amazon's Jeff Bezos doesn't like to reveal much about the Kindle hardware business. When he was asked in an interview with All Things D whether Amazon made money on the new Kindle hardware, ranging from $69 to $499, introduced September 6, he responded, "We don't disclose the exact bill and materials, so I can't answer that. But we don't want to lose a lot of money on the device because then we'd really hate it if you put it in the desk drawer. On the other hand, if you make a lot of money on the device, I believe you haven't earned your money on it yet, and then you've incentivized them [the customers] to stay on the upgrade treadmill that I mentioned today."
Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, Bezos came clean on the Kindle hardware question, disclosing that the Kindle Fire HD and Paperwhite sales don't render any direct profit to Amazon. "Basically, we sell the hardware at our cost, so it's break-even on hardware," he said. For contrast, Apple reportedly makes around a 40 percent margin on its WiFi-based iP... [Read more]
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