Here’s an interesting twist. As of this morning, Amazon is no longer selling the base Kindle Paperwhite, the cheapest model that comes with Special Offers that normally sells for $119.
The $139 Wi-Fi Paperwhite without Special Offers is still available, as are both 3G Paperwhites. But what happened to the other one?
It might very well just be a simple supply issue, or a glitch. It could reappear later today. Who knows… Or maybe Amazon doesn’t care to replenish stock because they have a new model ready to take its place.
One thing to note is that there currently isn’t anything saying that the $119 Kindle Paperwhite will be back in stock soon; usually Amazon has a note saying when an item will be available again. But not this time. The product page instead directs to marketplace sellers where you can only buy it used.
Another interesting detail is that the $119 Kindle Paperwhite has been removed from the Kindle banner at the top of Kindle device pages. It now lists the $139 Kindle instead.
Usually Amazon releases a new Kindle before they stop selling the older ones so this is a bit of a head-scratcher. And since Amazon hasn’t even scheduled a press event yet, a new model likely won’t be available until the second week of September at the earliest.
Kobo has scheduled an event for tomorrow where they will likely announce a new Kobo Glo ebook reader, and a tablet perhaps.
It probably won’t be long now before Amazon does the same. Disappearing Kindles are a good sign that a new model is about to be released.
Hmmm….curious…
Arghh! I just bought a $119 Kindle PW two weeks ago. To return, or not to return, that is the question.
It seems that today (8/27) even the $139 Paperwhite is gone. Only the 3G version remains.
Yeah I noticed that too. This is getting weird. Usually there’s a price cut before a new model, but Amazon is taking the opposite approach by only offering the more expensive Kindle Paperwhite.
Still in stock (the wifi, non-ad supported version) at Amazon.ca and Amazon.co.uk. If there’s a new one, it looks like it’ll be U.S. only. Again.
If a new one’s to be announced in a few weeks, maybe they’re trying to avoid an elevated return rate on recent purchases when the new is revealed. Will be interesting to see if the 3G sells out soon and Amazon doesn’t replenish the stock on any Paperwhite models.