Amazon said they were working on a way to opt out of the Kindle Fire HD ad model and they worked fast, offering a $15 one-time fee to remove the ads. Amazon received widespread criticism for the placement of ads in the first place, or “special offers” as their commonly known in Amazon’s world. Amazon’s current model of Kindle e-readers provides a way to let customers opt out of the ad model by paying a fee, yet Amazon had said up until yesterday they weren’t considering anything similar with their new line of Kindle Fire HD tablets.

That changes as Ars Technica received the official word from Amazon telling the site:

“With Kindle Fire HD there will be a special offers opt-out option for $15. We know from our Kindle reader line that customers love our special offers and very few people chose to opt out. We’re happy to offer customers the choice.”

As of this writing, the Kindle Fire HD preorder pages haven’t been updated to reflect Amazon’s new stance on ad-removals. One note is that while Amazon’s statement only speaks of their HD tablet line, the original and newly updated Kindle Fire will also receive the $15 opt-out option for customers as well.

A nice change of heart by Amazon, and in record time. Amazon truly is a company that gets their customers, listens to their feedback and acts appropriately. Bravo Amazon, bravo.

Ars Technica