The folks over at TechCrunch are reporting Amazon is pondering the idea of giving a free Kindle to Amazon Prime subscribers. The subscription, currently priced at $79 per year, offers free two day shipping and $3.99 next day shipping on orders shipped by Amazon.
According to TechCrunch, there is one problem with the scenario. Amazon does not want to lose money. The idea of Amazon marketing the Kindle to some of its best customers, those who tend to make repeat purchases, could reap rewards for the Seattle company, however. If each customer purchases multiple books per month, odds are the program would be a success.
On January 28, 2010, one day after Apple announced the iPad, Jeff Bezos (founder and CEO of Amazon.com) declared, "Millions of people now own Kindles. And Kindle owners read, a lot. When we have both editions, we sell 6 Kindle books for every 10 physical books." In fact, the Kindle is the number one bestselling product on Amazon.com. Amazon is most likely banking on these sales figures when mulling over the free Kindle concept.