10% Off Kindle Prices on Amazon Marketplace ... H'mm, Are Kindle Owners Jumping Ship?

Throughout the past three months, with the heightening of buzz, competition, and even partnership between all things iPad and all things Kindle, there's been a kind of upside-down, inside-out, Alice in Wonderland dimension to many of the events and news items in this sphere. So today we find that the iPad is the top selling tablet computer at Amazon, and that the price of the Kindle has been coming down -- perhaps due to iPad lust? -- at Amazon Marketplace....

The news is often astonishing here, but seldom truly surprising.

There probably aren't enough Kindles available at these discounts for the prices to last for long, but it seems worth mentioning here that it's a pretty good time to pick up a new or used Kindle at a discount price through Amazon Marketplace.

Are some Kindle owners jumping ship for the iPad or other devices? It's possible, and we are seeing some offerings of the latest generation global wireless 6" Kindle at prices in the $230 to $240 range, alongside Amazon's own $259 direct retail price. With Amazon Marketplace quantities extremely limited, further price fluctuations are very likely, but I'll post the applicable links below so that you can check for yourself.

As always, special care is necessary on the front end of such transactions to make sure that you are buying the Kindle you want, in the condition you want, from a seller who inspires your trust. That being said, Amazon offers considerable support to buyers in its Amazon Marketplace program.

• Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation) - $259 from Amazon
• Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation) - Used and New, Discounted by Amazon Marketplace Sellers ($230 and up as of 4/19/2010)
• Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display, U.S. Wireless) - Used and New, Discounted by Amazon Marketplace Sellers ($213 and up as of 4/19/2010)
• Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device (9.7" Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation) - $489 from Amazon
• Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device (9.7" Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation) - Used and New, Discounted by Amazon Marketplace Sellers ($440 and up as of 4/19/2010)
• Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device (9.7" Display, U.S. Wireless) - Used and New, Discounted by Amazon Marketplace Sellers ($350 and up as of 4/19/2010)

One thing that may be keeping some Kindle owners from jumping ship, ironically, is that there is some misleading information being passed around about the hardware requirements for buying and reading Kindle content with the free Kindle for iPad app. "Unless you have a Kindle, you cannot send yourself books so you are  limited to the Amazon Kindle store content and any previously purchased  content can’t be read using the Kindle App," says the usually reliable Dear Author website in a purported review of the free Kindle for iPad app and other iPad-compatible reading venues that is also referenced at Teleread.

The fact of the matter, of course, is that all of the Kindle apps (for the iPad, the iPhone, the iPod Touch, the PC, the Mac, and the Blackberry) are "No Kindle Required" apps that work just fine whether you have a Kindle -- or have ever had a Kindle -- or not.

Meanwhile, it's also worth following up on our earlier mention of the fact that, with continued shipping delays (currently 5 to 7 days) of the the wifi iPad at the Apple Store and postponement of the 3G iPad's ship date from "late April" to "May 7," there are brisk sales of those models -- at premium prices -- among Amazon Marketplace sellers. As of the afternoon of Monday, April 19, the iPad family is represented at the top of Amazon's bestseller lists for Tablet Computers: