Amazon Offers Promotional Prices on Tablets, Kindle Readers

On Wednesday, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) replaced a $2 billion share buyback program the company instituted in 2010 and replaced it with a new $5 billion program. The old program still had $763 million left for share repurchases. One might be forgiven for questioning Amazon’s sincerity about spending $5 billion on something it clearly doesn’t like doing at all.

When Amazon reported earnings that were short of expectations in late January, analysts mostly reaffirmed their prior ratings but lowered their price targets. The current target is $738.13 (down about $10 since the earnings report), and Wednesday’s closing price was $490.48, a bump of 1.7% for the day. That was the largest single-day gain since the company reported earnings. Shares have lost 27% since the beginning of the year and 6% since the earnings report.

To help boost revenues going forward, Amazon has put a limited-time offer on many of its own branded devices. The seven-inch Amazon Fire tablet with Wi-Fi and 8 gigabytes (GB) of memory is available until February 13 for $39.99, a savings of $10 (20%) off the regular price.

The Fire Kids Edition with a seven-inch display, Wi-Fi and 8 GB of memory is on sale for $79.99, a savings of $20 (20%) off the regular price. The offer expires February 13 and several accessories are also available at sale prices: a backpack is 50% off and a 32 GB memory card is offered at a 35% savings.

The new Fire HD10 with a its high-definition display, Wi Fi and 16 GB of memory is available until February 13 for $179.99, a savings of $50 (22%) from the list price of $229.99.
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Amazon is also offering deals on its Kindle e-reader. Customers can save $20 on the six-inch Kindle, priced at $59.99 (25% savings) until February 13, and $20 on the six-inch Kindle Paperwhite, priced at $99.99 (a savings of 17%).

Tablet sales have slowed for all manufacturers, so it’s no particular surprise that Amazon has offered these deals. The time may be limited now, but there’s little to suggest that the market for tablets will return to growth mode, so tablet prices will either continue falling or sales will dry up even more.