Remember when Target started selling the Kindle, almost exactly two years ago? It appears that the bloom is off the rose. The Verge reports that Target is going to “[phase] out Kindles and all Amazon- and Kindle-branded products in the spring of 2012.” However, Target will continue to offer other e-readers, including Barnes & Noble’s Nook.

Other blogs such as Engadget are speculating on the causes. Might it be because Target is going to open mini-Apple stores, and Apple asked Target to phase out goods from its closest competitor? But Best Buy has its own mini-Apple stores and it still carries the Kindle, and Target isn’t getting rid of the Nook, another Apple competitor. A likelier possibility has to do with the way Amazon carries many of the same sorts of items as Target, so by carrying Kindles Target is actually helping to boost one of its own competitors. (The price-match promotion Amazon did in which people could scan an item to get a discount if they bought it from Amazon probably didn’t endear them to Target, either.)

In any event, I doubt Amazon will be feeling too much pain from this move. Anyone who wants a Kindle will still have plenty of ways to get one.

(Found via our sister blog, Gadgetell.)

2 COMMENTS

  1. My guess is that Target doesn’t make much profit selling Kindles.

    Amazon is probably selling readers for cost plus a couple of dollars, with the idea that people who buy a Kindle reader will then buy Kindle books from Amazon.

    Target, therefore, will earn more money if the floor space that is currently dedicated to displaying Kindle readers is used to sell some other, higher markup item instead.

  2. I would love to check out the iPad3’s Retina display at a Target store when they get the mini-Apple stores going. I never get to Best Buy, but I’m at Target constantly since it is close to where I work at Dish. It is a good move on Target’s part to sell Apple products since the iPad is so popular. I use the Dish Remote Access App on my wife’s iPad2 at home a lot because it is handy when I need to make changes to my account, make timers on the DVR or watch an on demand show when I’m working in the garage.

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