[beAbU]

Also consider that the devices you mention are probably heavily subsidised.

The kindle is a gateway drug into the rest of the Amazon ecosystem, and you probably need some form of subscription to get full use out of it, or at the least you need to buy ebooks on Amazon for it.

The $90 phone probably comes with facebook and other social apps + bloatware pre-installed, that no doubt ended up there because of some commercial deal.

[dredmorbius]

Outside a handful of providers (Amazon, Barn & Noble's Nook, possibly Kobo), e-ink devices tend to not be subsidised.

You can look at pricing for, e.g., Onyx's product line to get a good sense of what the cost of a given mass-market device at a given e-ink size (and capabilities, e.g., Wacom, frontlight, touch interface) are.

Smaller e-ink devices are quite affordable. At 10" and above, you start seeing a pretty significant price premium, though IMO the benefits are worth it.

(I own a 13" Onyx device, for three years now.)

[dmd]

The (eink) kindle is a fabulous device and in absolutely no way requires you to buy ebooks from Amazon. you can just plug it in and put Mobi files on it.

[ornornor]

Very few non tech people realize that. I’d wager the overwhelming majority buy a kindle and then get 100% of their books off BezosBazaar.

[magospietato]

The convenience factor of the BezosBazaar can't be underestimated. I have no interest in maintaining a digital library these days, and the walls of the Kindle garden just aren't that impactful when you read maybe a dozen books a year.

[ornornor]

They kinda are though, it’s creating a monopoly. Never mind enriching the already richest psychopath on the planet.

[dmd]

Amazon also gives you an @kindle.com address you can email documents to (epub, pdf, docx, plain text…) and they’ll show up seconds later on your kindle.