NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon.com cut the price of its Kindle electronic reading device to $299 on Wednesday in an effort to attract more bookworms and make the gadget a mainstream hit.
The new price is $60 below the tag the Kindle has had since its debut in 2007. Spokeswoman Cinthia Portugal said the price cut, a classic move in electronics marketing, is not just a short-term promotion.
"We've been able to increase the volume of Kindles we're manufacturing and decrease the cost of doing so," Portugal said.
Amazon has not disclosed Kindle sales figures, and the publishing industry has said e-books account for less than 1 percent of book sales. But it is a fast-growing, competitive segment. Customers can wirelessly download books to the Kindle, with new releases often as inexpensive as $10.
Amazon's larger Kindle DX, which was released this spring and geared toward textbooks and periodicals, still has its original price of $489.
Price point has been a barrier for the Kindle since its release. Analysts cite a host of alternatives on which one can already read and store a digital library (such as laptops, smartphones and netbooks) as one barrier to adoption.