I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: There’s something weird going on with the entry-level Kindle.
It seems like every time Amazon puts Kindles on sale the entry-level model becomes instantly unavailable for several weeks. At some point you’d think they would get enough to keep up with demand.
They don’t seem to have as much of a problem keeping the Kindle Paperwhite in stock during sales so it can’t be a supply issue, and Amazon clearly sells way more Paperwhites than entry-level models based on reviews and rank.
All the different variations of the base Kindle are currently in stock on Amazon UK and Amazon Canada, but it always just happens to be on backorder in the US whenever there’s a sale.
One day after Amazon put Kindles on sale for Valentine’s Day all the black variants of the entry-level model were already out of stock for the next few weeks; you can still get a white one but they go in and out of stock frequently.
What’s the point of putting the Kindle on sale for Valentine’s Day when they can’t even fulfill most orders before Valentine’s Day?
It was the same story two months ago in December the last time Kindles were on sale.
I wonder if they’re experimenting with the idea of doing away with the cheaper model entirely and just having the Paperwhite be the only 6-inch model. There really isn’t a big price difference between the two, only $30 when on sale, and the Paperwhite has a better screen.
Are they purposely trying to steer people toward the more expensive Kindle Paperwhite? The same pattern keeps repeating itself so it can’t just be a coincidence.
Perhaps they’re getting set to release a new model again since it’s been nearly 2 years since the last entry-level model was released, so maybe that’s why availability is waning, but that seems unlikely given Amazon’s complacency toward Kindles over the past half decade. I think it’s more likely that new Kindle releases will start becoming less frequent. But that doesn’t explain why Amazon can’t keep the basic Kindle in stock.
I doubt they’re releasing a new basic. There’s not really a reason to. Adding a better resolution pushes it closer to the Paperwhite and the current model already has a frontlight Audible support and voiceview. It’s also physically one of the smallest e-readers you can buy. What would be the incentive to upgrade or buy the upgrade. The one exception I could think of is if the Paperwhite gets temperature control. Then a bump in resolution but no temperature control would keep the gap present.
I just hope they do something in 2021. Not having any new Kindles in 2020 was a bummer, and all they did was add a warm frontlight to the Oasis in 2019 so there really hasn’t been a “new” Kindle since the basic was released in April 2019.
I’m also on the train of hoping something happens in 2021. But you know what? You don’t need to strive to evolve hardware if you’re the market leader by a significant margin. Unfortunate.
They did double the memory on the Basic model from 4 to 8. So, there was some upgrade.
Next release will include color. If it doesn’t, they are woefully behind.
Maybe in four years after ever other company has done it, just like the warm frontlight. But every other company offers an ereader over 7″ and Amazon still refuses to accommodate that market so I wouldn’t be so sure either way. They should at least release a color Kindle for kids but they probably never will.