I saw on Lilliputing today that Walmart has announced that it will no longer sell Kindle products. The article also noted that Target announced the same earlier this year. I missed the Target announcement but I am not really all that surprised by either.
It is good for Amazon to get eink devices into brinks and mortar stores so that potential customers can see the difference between eink and LCD tablets. It is probably less important for to Amazon that people see the Kindle Fire because it is similar to other Android products. But I am continually surprised how many people have never actually looked at an eink screen and just assume it is the same as reading a regular computer screen.
The USA Today article about the Target announcement said that it was an attempt to limit ‘showrooming’ where customers come into a physical store to test out the product and then purchase it on their smartphones.
In addition to the ‘showrooming’ problem, Amazon is a competitor with both Target and Walmart. So it is not too surprising that both groups are no longer carrying Amazon products.
As of now you can still purchase Amazon Kindles at Best Buy, Staples, Office Depot, Office Max.
I also wonder about Livrada, a gift card that can be used to give a specific ebook to someone regardless of the ebook reader of the owner. Right now they have an exclusive sales deal with Target. But if Target is going to stop selling Kindles, that would seem to be a problem for Livrada.
I would look out for deals on Kindles at Walmart and especially Target. Target generally has good deals on products that they are no longer carrying.
