With the Kindle Fire HD, Amazon’s strategy was clear: get the hardware out the door as cheaply as possible to pull more consumers into Amazon’s ecosystem. Of course, one way to accomplish this and boost revenue is via ads, and Amazon confirmed after last week’s unveiling that the new Kindle Fire HD line was ad-supported and that users would not be able to disable the ads. The move was met with criticism from the press and a (likely) small outcry from consumers, with many unhappy that they would be unable to opt-out of ads should they so choose.
It turns out that Amazon had a change of heart over the weekend, and announced on Saturday a $15 opt-out program that removes ads for the life of the device for anyone willing to pay the one-time fee. The Kindle Fire HD 7″ ships this week, with the 8.9″ model coming in November.
[via TechCrunch]