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0 pointsanonu6y ago0 comments

This is just a non starter and a pipe dream. It goes against the principles of capitalism and free enterprise.

You need to think about incentives. You have two tablets, identical in functionality and performance. But the one without the ads and surveillance features costs twenty percent more. Which one do you buy? Actually Kindle did this for a while (maybe they still do...). I ended up buying the cheaper one with the ads.

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jacurtis6y ago

Can confirm that Kindle does in fact sell devices that are ad-supported.

For a $20 one time fee you can remove this feature (which can be done after purchase at any time). But most people won't notice the tiny option select on the amazon purchase page that defaults to "with Special Offers".

To make it even more confusing, they make it sound like the better option to pick is the ad-supported version. I mean you are choosing between the model "with special offers" or the one "without special offers"? Most people that don't know any better will leave the default "with special offers" options selected.

Source: https://www.amazon.com/All-new-Kindle-now-with-a-built-in-fr...

TeMPOraL6y ago

Yes, you're right. I know people who bought Kindle with ads just to save that 20% or so.

But that's why I wrote that advertising-based business models need to be banned. Not discouraged, not badmouthed, but banned. They're anticompetitive and poisonous; when one company starts doing it, others in the whole sector are drawn to follow suit (it's e.g. why it's hard to actually sell apps on mobile or make subscriptions for publications on-line profitable; ad-supported operations create a baseline cost of zero).

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