Amazon's Kindle So Cheap You Can Throw It From an Airplane

Say what you want about Amazon’s decision to subsidize the price of the Kindle through the use of advertising.

But the $114 price point for the e-reader brings it that much closer to being disposable, unlike the iPad, which starts at $499, or even the regular Kindle version at $139.

Sure, price tolerance varies, but the Kindle is now far more economical than most full-priced smartphones, making it much more manageable–maybe even forgettable–to lose.

And, you’ll have Visa or Olay to thank for that.

The reminder came after watching last week’s Weekend Update on “Saturday Night Live,” which showed just how easy it is to lose a Kindle.

A stewardess recounted her harrowing experience on the fateful Southwest Airlines flight, where a five-foot gap opened up in the ceiling of a Boeing 747 when they were at 37,000 feet.

“I was passing out peanuts, when I noticed I could see my breath. Then, I noticed everyone’s Kindles were lifting off their lap and headed upward. And then, I looked up an–when I saw one go out of the hole in the roof. And I screamed ‘I hope you are done reading “The Girl who Played with Fire,” because you aren’t getting that back.'”

Next time, maybe she’ll scream, “I hope you saved $25 by getting the ad-subsidized version.”

Because a Kindle for free seems completely out of the question.

Watch the video for yourself:

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Another gadget you don’t really need. Will not work once you get it home. New model out in 4 weeks. Battery life is too short to be of any use.

— From the fact sheet for a fake product entitled Useless Plasticbox 1.2 (an actual empty plastic box) placed in L.A.-area Best Buy stores by an artist called Plastic Jesus