MG Siegler:
So it’s possible that Amazon is passing the entire $130 from consumers over to AT&T to secure their good-looking deal. But if that’s the case, why not either tack-on or eat the remaining $50?
Maybe Bezos really wanted to offer a tablet that was the same price as the iPad?
Having a same-priced product is one way to tell potential customers that you are on an equal playing field when compared to “other tablets”.
Because pretty much every educated consumer who is in the market for a tablet knows that the iPad is unequivocally great. But that doesn’t mean the iPad is a no-brainer for everyone in the market for a tablet. And so Amazon is competing by saying that for the price of an entry-level iPad you could instead get a 4G Fire with a super-cheap data plan. Too bad it comes with ads that supposedly you won’t be able to disable.