The email subject line stated, “Kindle Notice – Devices no longer supported,” and it went to pretty much anyone with an older registered device, at least if my social networks are to be believed.
“Starting May 20, 2026 — 14 to 18 years after their initial launches — we are discontinuing support for Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier.”
For those playing along at home, it’s not as simple as saying Kindle 7 and above are losing support. There is a Kindle 7 and higher numbers that will still work, but so will Kindle Paperwhite 2 and beyond as well as, Kindle Voyage, Kindle Oasis, and Kindle Scribe.
The email and the corresponding page on Amazon with a slug in the url that said “deprecate” all seems to me like a solution to something that isn’t a problem if you value quality products. But Amazon has proven time and time again that they really just want to make sales.
They want to make money. They want bigger profit margins. But more than anything they want even MORE of your DATA!
Those older Kindle models are great, even if they are still tied into the Amazon ecosystem. But newer models can spy on you with much greater detail. That data can be used or used and sold to make more money and even larger profit margins.
So what if we happened to create devices that lasted for over a decade? Go get a new one and let us spy on you more tell us more about you!
I think this might be the end of the road for me and Kindle as a platform. I have an old 4th generation Kindle from 2011. That’s 15 great years from a device that I didn’t use often, but it was always there for me and reliable when it was called upon. Honestly, which of your devices still work as planned 15 years after you purchased them?
I am more of a physical book reader, but when things were only digital or I needed to read something that wasn’t in print yet, my Kindle was a great option. I don’t know what the next option will be, but after this, it won’t be a Kindle.
The fact that there is nothing wrong with it and they don’t want to support it anymore is something I have no control over. But as a consumer, I can just opt out of the ecosystem. When the time comes to read something that’s digital-only in the future, I’ll have to look into what my options will be.
The point here is that Amazon actually made something that was good at what it did, and it lasted a long time. This is in stark contrast to an Amazon Fire stick or Fire TV, especially more modern ones, where they can push updates of larger and larger size. Finally, the item just doesn’t have enough memory to update unless you delete the apps you are using on it, or it just can’t breathe under the weight of all the data constantly being pushed to it.
That’s why Fire sticks and Fire TVs are so cheap. They want you to keep buying them, again, because of the tracking. You have to agree to be watched in the terms of service in order to use the thing anyway. The DATA is more important to them.
The fact that these Kindles are still in use more than a decade later must have been quite a shock to those executives looking into it. And the only option was to shut it all down, send out an email with a coupon for a new device, and call it a day.
I would have preferred an option to keep using it at my own discretion. Then again, I believe that I’m at more risk from Amazon itself than the “third parties” they claim they are saving me from. Sunsetting the devices and not allowing them to be used any further beyond what they are feels like being backed into a corner, and it’s not a comfy reading corner, either.
Don’t get me wrong here, what is on your old Kindle is yours. You just won’t be able to get anything new.
It makes me thankful I never fully bought into digital books. I can’t imagine someone with a well loved decades old Kindle with untold numbers of books in their library being forced to upgrade a device that is probably fine.
Anyway, perhaps I’ll have to keep an eye out for a good e-Reader. You can bet it’ll be one that isn’t tied to an ecosystem that is based on getting YOUR data and making a profit. Come to think of it, most devices these days are based on getting your data and making a profit. Maybe I should just see if my library card requires an update.