Re:OLPC’s $100 laptop was going to change the world
by eli on Monday April 16, 2018 @02:50PM
(#16851651)
Is the Kindle profitable on its own? I thought it was sold at cost or at a loss with the expectation it would lead to more profitable ebook sales.
Re:OLPC’s $100 laptop was going to change the world
by avhon1 on Monday April 16, 2018 @08:23PM
(#16854294)
Amazon's kindle ereaders are sold with a thin profit. (I don't think that the average kindle owner purchases enough books that they generate significant revenue after IP costs are subtracted.)
[0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyclay/2012/10/12/amazon-con...
[1] https://www.npr.org/2012/09/06/160697501/new-amazon-kindle-w...
An ereader already contains all of the hardware to be an interactive computer (especially if it has a keyboard, like the kindle 1, 2 and 3). It really shouldn't cost any more to deploy an Alan Kay-style dynabook than to deploy ereader appliances.
> the idea of a general purpose computer you could also teach kids to code on seemed really really cool
The idea wasn't that you could teach programming with the aid of the computers. The idea was that you could teach everything with the aid of computers.