That Cheap Kindle Costs You $443 a Year

New research finds Kindle owners spend more on Amazon

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 16, 2013 12:07 PM CST
Updated Dec 21, 2013 1:00 PM CST

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That Cheap Kindle Costs You $443 a Year — In this Sept. 28, 2011 file photo, the Kindle Fire is displayed at a news conference, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

Why is Amazon willing to sell its Kindles so cheaply that they make no profit—or even lose money? Easy: Kindle owners end up spending more money on Amazon, Time reports. New research from the Consumer Intelligent Research Partners finds that Amazon members who don't own a Kindle spend $790 on the site each year, while Kindle owners spend $443 more, for a total of $1,233 per year. Says CIRP's co-founder, "Another way to look at Kindle Fire and Kindle e-Reader is as a portal to Amazon.com." Want to get a little of that back? Over at Slate, Matt Yglesias has figured out a loophole involving a fake baby. (Read more Amazon.com stories.)

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