Amazon announced a version of the Kindle that can be had for $25 less, providing you are willing to subject yourself to screensavers that are ads and banner ads at the bottom of the home screen. I don’t have a problem with ads but my reaction is still negative.

Amazon is saying I am only worth $25.

Okay so Amazon has to create the market first but with their volumes they won’t have a problem doing that. However,  I know I am worth a hell of a lot more than $25 given my demographics and purchasing behaviors, a fact Amazon knows very well given my transaction history, yet Amazon is flat lining me and making, potentially, a lot more on the arbitrage of the discount they are giving me relative to the ads they can deliver to me assuming I bought the device.

Interestingly I really don’t have a reaction to the ad-powered Kindle but I do have a negative reaction to Amazon on the grounds of basic fairness. I should have more control over how much I can sell my ad attention for and Amazon should deliver this in the form of dynamic pricing that gives me a bigger discount on a Kindle.

[Cross-posted at Venture Chronicles]