Will the Amazon / AT&T Kindle Deal...

Will the Amazon / AT&T Kindle Deal Herald the Arrival of 'Dumb Roaming Pipes'?

I'm glad to have found the above article, posted by Dean Bubley. Dean is one of few who appreciate the size of the big Internet Reader Tsunami that is about to hit the world. Today, another blogger, the name escapes me, made the forecast that the electronic reader will be the "hot Christmas gift" this year.

According to Bubley, the key to the Amazon/AT&T deal is that AT&T will pay local carriers cell phone roaming charges for delivering books. Apparently, Amazon will pay AT&T an extra upfront charge of about $20 per "international" reader sold.

By only bone to pick with Dean is in regard to "other than book down-loads". It seems natural that much more than books will be downloaded. Amazon already offers more than 7,000 blogs and news feeds, most of them for a per month fee of 99 cents each, some for a couple of dollars per month. Certainly, there must be more detailed provisions for how this incremental but potentially huge revenue is to be shared. Other streams of info will certainly be added. Many a Kindle Reader will want his Facebook Status Feeds, many other RSS feeds and even emails to come into his reader.

Rupert Murdoch and other media moguls will want a cut, if the feeds from the Wall Street Journal and other subscriber only publications are included. In other words, many of us will not subscribe to the "whole" Wall Street Journal, but we might be willing to pay a monthly delivery fee for packages of RSS feeds.

Bubley's article implies that AT&T gets only a set wholesale rate. My suspicion is that the rate is at least variable; one rate for big downloads of books and another for dealing with day to day transmission of email and RSS feeds.

in reference to:

"Will the Amazon / AT&T Kindle Deal Herald the Arrival of 'Dumb Roaming Pipes'?"
- Will the Amazon / AT&T Kindle Deal Herald the Arrival of 'Dumb Roaming Pipes'? -- Seeking Alpha (view on Google Sidewiki)