However, Barnes & Noble has turned this into a bit of a win for readers, by offering huge inventory-clearing discounts on the Nook HD and HD+: top-spec readers reduced by up to £180 for the next few weeks.
Part of the problem is that even though the phones have been highly discounted by carriers, at least here in the U.S., it's not clear the discounts are driving sales.
IT'S been a month since Target released its Missoni for Target line and scrums of shoppers cleared the discount retailer's shelves and crashed its Web site.
Lloyds Bank retail managing director Keith Richardson said: "As retailers try to get back to normal after several months of promotions-driven sales, the message from shoppers is clear: heavy discounts are the new norm".
It's not clear how the discount works, but as Lyft head of operations strategy David Rust explained, drivers can get a discount to $2 per gallon in real time as soon as they enter a personal pin code into the system to pump gas.
It states that salary levels must show "a clear and explicit discount against the private sector when setting senior manager pay".
"It's not clear that the discount window was a viable option," said Laurence H. Meyer, a former Fed governor who is now vice chairman at Macroeconomic Advisers.
Even if Amazon gets widespread buy-in from publishers, it isn't clear whether a discounted combined price will be compelling.
"It's clear that targeted discounting has worked for the UK's retailers – prices have been cut just enough to encourage customers through the doors, but not so much that sales growth has been completely choked off," she said.
Since sustaining her concussion during a Feb. 2 training run, she and the United States Ski Team appeared to hit the trifecta of concussion no-no's: they called the injury mild, blindly followed so-called concussion tests, then discounted clear signs that her injury remained.
