The Amazon Kindle appears to be the current hot “must have” gizmo on the market right now. It seems very much as if the ebook reader is an idea whose time has come – and the kindle ebook reader is undoubtedly the best example of such a device on the market at the moment. It is also, and let’s be honest about it here, cool.
The Kindle has often been compared to the Apple iPod – which, incidentally, now has a kindle application that permits you to read kindle books on it – by a number of industry insiders. Indeed, going all the way back to the launch of the original Kindle in November of 2007, Steven Levy’s Newsweek cover piece proposed that the Kindle was the “… iPod of reading”. Two and a half years later it appears that drawing a comparison between the two devices might go some way towards understanding the current enormous success of the Kindle – and perhaps even allow some insight into what could occur in the near future.
Amazon supremo Jeff Bezos is quoted as stating, again way back in 2007, that “This [the Kindle] isn’t a device, it’s a service.” – and that is absolutely critical to understanding why the Kindle works so perfectly in Amazon’s business model.
Some criticisms have been levied at the Kindle’s high price – it currently retails at $359 for the Kindle 2, slightly lower than the original Kindle price of $399. The original iPod was priced at $399 when it was released – prices have fallen as the product was first accepted, and then passed through mainstream to practically ubiquitous. At the same time functionality has increased.
Apple is, and has been for some time now, synonymous with music downloads and has increased the available offering of products to incorporate videos, games and a host of applications for the iPod. In a similar manner, Amazon is strongly linked with books, making the kindle a perfect choice of product for them. The recent announcement of the larger Kindle DX is noteworthy, not solely because of the numerous technical upgrades that it offers, but because it improves Amazon’s capability to provide newspapers, magazines and even educational textbooks to its customers.
It would be foolish to discount the technical aspects of the Kindle series of readers completely of course, but it appears that, for Amazon, the technology is a means to an end rather than the end itself. In fact, as far as e-book reader technology goes, Amazon are a little late to the party when you consider that there have been previous contenders – for example; the Franklin ebook (no longer in development but still available from some sources) on the market since 1999, and Sony have been marketing ebook readers for quite a time. There are other examples, some have already vanished, others are plodding on without, currently at least, gaining anything like the level of interest enjoyed by the Kindle.
Another key advantage enjoyed by Amazon at this time is the 3G wireless technology employed to enable Kindle users to download their ebooks in less than a minute without the use of a computer or an internet connection – and without being locked in to a monthly contract or having to furnish a download fee. It’s a fantastic example of the way Amazon have [leveraged the technology to provide a perceived benefit for their user base.
No monthly connection fee and no download charges means that customers do not feel locked in or committed to the Amazon service, a significant factor considering the relatively high cost and the current economic climate. Of course, while customers will be able to buy ebooks elsewhere to read on their Kindle, it is still going to be a lot easier for them to purchase from Amazon’s huge, and ever increasing, selection of Kindle friendly books. Amazon are going tolot of repeat business – just as Apple do with their iTunes store.
Using the iPod experience to predict the Kindle’s potential future, it seems unlikely that the Kindle will have everything its own way. As previously stated, there are , even now, a number of existing alternative ebook devices available – the Sony PRS is most likely the most significant player apart from the Kindle right now, but there are others. These will either develop and provide strong competition for the Kindle or disappear from the marketplace.
Also worth remembering is the fact that there are a number of new readers in development. Plastic Logic, has a Kindle DX sized reader in development which has been scheduled for release in 2010. Rumours abound concerning the launch of an Apple tablet based computer, suggested to be aimed at the gap between an iPod Touch and a full blown MacBook. It wouldn’t be too fanciful to suppose that Apple might grow their iStore to include ebooks just as they expanded it to incorporate videos after the release of the iPhone and iPod Touch.
And it’s not just fiercer competition based on enhanced reader technology that Amazon might have to face. In March of 2009 Google and Sony announced that Google’s huge library of public domain e-books would be made available at no charge for Sony’s reader. That’s a total of 600,000 titles and is a definite signal that the ebook reader marketplace going to be strongly contested in future.
At this time Amazon is sitting pretty. It has a downloads and, most important of all – the Amazon Kindle is cool. Whether or not it grows into a ubiquitous iPod type product or not in the face of what will surely be strong competition only time will tell. Amazon have been more than smart thus far, so it seems likely that they will be a serious player in this emerging market for a long time to come.
One thing seems guaranteed, we will all have the facility to read books, magazines, newspapers and even school textbooks using portable digital devices in the immediate future. As competition, economies of scale and improvements in technology combine to drive prices down this will become an increasingly popular choice for many, possibly even the majority of, readers. The way we read is poised to change, perhaps more quickly than you might think.
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