Why There’s Enough Room In The Market For The Kindle And The IPad
This time last year, the e-book reader market was like the Wild West – or maybe the gold rush would be a more appropriate metaphor. Following the huge success which Amazon had achieved with its Kindle reader – first of all with the Kindle 2.0 in February of 2009 and then with the large format DX edition in the summer of the same year – a veritable host of personal electronics manufacturers were either developing, releasing or updating their own e-book readers so as to get their share of the nascent market.
Sony and Barnes and Noble were working hard to get their new readers out in time for the 2009 festive season and Plastic Logic, Asus and a host of others were rushing to get their readers to market as fast as they could. For the first time ever, the Computer Electronics Show, which took place in Las Vegas during early 2010, featured a dedicated area for e-book readers. E-book readers were a hot developing market.
Currently, no more than a few short months later, the scene is very different. The price of e-book readers has plunged. The latest third generation Kindle now has a Wi-Fi only entry level model available for only $ 139 – less than 40% of the $ 359 price which the Kindle 2.0 launched. Barnes and Noble have also dropped the price of the Nook reader to S 149 – and this will probably be cut again before the festive season.
Several new e-book readers which were going through the development process – including Plastic Logic’s Que – have been cancelled. The market seems to be entering a new stage in its development – and whether there is any place in it for pure electronics manufacturers or not is highly debatable. The Amazon business model is very well suited to selling lower priced readers and making a profit on the through life sales of Kindle books. A similar strategy would be available to Barnes and Noble of course, but it’s debatable as to whether or not they can benefit from the same types of economies of scale as Amazon.
Clearly it would be somewhat naive to ignore, or even play down, the impact of Apple’s iPad in this. It’s certain that the price of e-book readers would have trended downwards anyway – but the iPad’s launch certainly speeded things up a bit. However, based on the fact that the third generation Kindles sold out shortly after launch – even today customers are facing a three to four week wait before their Kindles will ship – it doesn’t look as if the iPad is the long awaited Kindle Killer that it was widely predicted to be.
Apart from the debate about e-ink displays being easier to read on than backlit screens, there is – for the moment at least – enough daylight between the price of the Kindle and the price of even the entry level iPad to make the Kindle the more attractive option for anyone whose primary interest is reading books. The iPad’s monthly connection fees will be a stumbling block for many customers.
It does start to look like there is enough room in the market for both the Amazon Kindle and the iPad to co-exist – for the short term future at least. Other manufacturers, including major players like Sony and Barnes and Noble, will probably struggle badly if e-book reader prices keep falling.
The New Third Generation Amazon Kindle Reader
It’s been a long time coming – at least it certainly feels that way – but Amazon has finally unveiled its new, improved and enhanced Kindle reader. Dubbed the third generation Kindle by Amazon, but more likely to be known as the Kindle 3, there are a number of changes in evidence.
It seems likely that the Kindle 3′s new features will tick many of the right boxes with e-book reader devotees. It retains the same 6” e-ink technology display, but the screen contrast has been improved by 50%, which should make reading an even more pleasant experience. Page turn speed, already good in the Kindle 2.0, is now a full 20% faster.
The overall dimensions of the reader are shrunk by 21% and the weight is a mere 8.7 ozs – a reduction of 15%. Battery life s now a month – with the Wi-Fi turned off – and even with the Wi-Fi on, a life of ten days is predicted. On board storage capacity has been increased from 2 to 4 GB, enough for approximately 3,500 books. So the new Kindle is smaller, lighter, easier to read, has a longer battery life and allows users to carry a small personal library with them wherever they go. What more could you want from a mobile reader?
For many, a color screen would have been one item on their wish list. Amazon have been dedicating a lot of resource to the development of a color e-ink technology screen – but it is not quite ready for commercial release just at the moment. Perhaps it will be included in the next Kindle 4 upgrade. There is no SD slot available for memory expansion, something which some users may have liked to see. However, with 4GB memory, the majority of people won’t suffer too badly as a result.
As well as all the upgrades, Amazon have adjusted the price downwards and introduced a new Wi-Fi only Kindle for customers who don’t feel the need for a 3G connection. The new entry level Wi-Fi only model can be yours for $ 139, the Wi-Fi plus 3G model retails at $ 189. The new Kindle 3 now comes in graphite, the same as the new DX model, as well as the original white.
Amazon has also opened a dedicated UK Kindle store on their British website. UK consumers will no longer require to have their Kindles shipped across the Atlantic. To begin with the UK Kindle store will have 400,000 Kindle books to choose from. It seems reasonable to suppose that Amazon may consider opening other dedicated Kindle stores for its other “local” websites in France, Germany etc. in the near future.
Kindle 3 sales are strong. Prospective customers face a wait of around 4 weeks at the moment before their Kindles can be shipped. It does start to look as if reports of the Kindle’s imminent demise at the hands of Apple’s iPad were somewhat premature. The new upgrades, the lower prices and the fact that there is no monthly payment for connectivity, will be very appealing to many consumers. It looks as though the launch of the third generation Kindle may serve as a timely reminder of just how influential Amazon are, and will continue to be, in the world of books in general and e-books in particular
Amazon Are Rumoured To Be Developing New Personal Tech Gadgets
Amazon is enjoying great success with its latest third generation Kindle reader right now. An upgrade – which includes a higher contrast screen, smaller and lighter casing, faster page turns and twice as much memory – accompanied by a price drop and the introduction of a new Wi-Fi only entry level model, has seen demand for the Kindle reader rocket.
Currently, the new upgraded Kindles are out of stock and prospective customers face a three to four week wait before any new ones begin shipping. Kindle books are also outselling traditional hardback editions on a regular basis. It seems to be just a matter of time before e-book sales will higher than even paperback sales.
Amazon has also launched a dedicated UK Kindle store so that UK customers don’t require to have their readers shipped across the Atlantic and can pay for their Kindle purchases in sterling rather than dollars. It seems probable that further “local” Kindle stores will be opened for other Amazon international websites such as Germany, France etc. in the near future.
Currently, everything in the garden is rosy for Amazon. Suggestions that the launch of the Apple iPad would spell the death of the Kindle seem to be, for the moment at least, unfounded. Amazon’s policy of releasing free “apps” to allow Kindle books to be read on a variety of different devices looks to be paying dividends. So, considering what a massive success they have enjoyed with their first manufactured product, it’s hardly surprising that Amazon is rumored to be considering developing prototypes for personal tech gadgets other than the Kindle in their Lab 126 research facility.
Although Amazon has been tight-lipped on the subject, it’s thought that they may be thinking about music/movie players and possibly some kind of mobile phone. However, industry watchers suggest that, if Amazon wanted to enter the market with another gadget, then they would need to ensure that they add value rather than simply releasing another piece of personal electronic tech onto the market.
A great deal of the success of the Kindle reader must be attributed to Amazon’s strong link with books and reading in general. The massive choice of Kindle books available – over 630,000 and growing every day – and the fact that these can be read on so many other devices has been a real feather in Amazon’s cap. Any new gadget that Amazon decided to release would certainly need some similar type of support in order to achieve anything approaching the level of the Kindle’s success.
The Fascination With E-Readers and Electronic Publishing
E-Readers and Ebook readers have been gaining a great amount of popularity in recent years. Publishing and the way that we obtain and absorb media is changing all the time. One of the most notable regions this is starting to become evident is the rise of e- readers and electronic books. With many newspapers and magazines covering the planet shutting down and a lot of others moving to additional internet based contents there was a big demand for electronic books and magazines that may simply be read on a hand-held product such as an iPod touch, a Sony E-reader, the famous Amazon Kindle, the innovative Apple iPad or any of the supplementary devices that’ve been emerging onto the marketplace recently.
Electronic books are not a new concept though. E-books have been around a good long period now, and while standard publishing remains the major driving force in the industry, there is an important and consistent increase in awareness in reading on hand-held devices. A lot of globally famous paperspapers, magazines and internet sites are syndicated to hand-held devices every day, offering the same contents as in their print versions lacking the damage to the ecosystem that printing physical copies can have.
In addition, e-book readers are capable of storing a big deal more content than you would generally be able to carry in its tangible form. Purchasing ebook readers has never been faster as you can get them from all the major outlets like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones and of course the Apple iTunes app store.
Some colleges and universities are also looking to E-books to resolve the problem of continuously updating textbooks for scholars. This is something that’s proving to be very advantageous to teaching, as it compacts the enormous amounts of content a learner wants to take in, onto one single helpful device instead of huge reams of papers.
Ebook readers are also superb for travelling, as you may have a variety of novels, books, magazines, papers, blog entries and more in the middle of your hand. Additionally, devices like the iPod touch and the Amazon Kindle present wireless connectivity all around the planet, meaning you are able to update your publications and download more to enjoy.
The digital publishing industry is something which will grow in significance over the approaching years, as paper stocks diminsh and production costs rise, many publishers and readers are looking towards digital handheld devices over the normal paper publications in order to maintain distinguished output without needing to scrimp on quality. No matter what you want to read, there are ebook readers for you, and there is also a range of wonderful contraptions available to help you just do that. Check out the finest ebook readers that are available on the net and check out which one will best fit your needs.
Kindle Book Sales Outstrip Traditional Books On Christmas Day
Amazon must be absolutely delighted with the performance of its Kindle reader family in 2009. The Kindle 2.0 was released in February with the DX following hard on its heels in June. The Kindle quickly became Amazon’s best selling product – even prior to the global launch of the Kindle 2.0 in October.
By the end of 2009′s festive season, the Kindle had become Amazon’s “most gifted” product ever and, on Christmas day, Amazon sold more Kindle books than they did traditional printed volumes. That may very well have been due to all those lucky people who had found a Kindle under their tree on Christmas morning. In all probability, having opened their gift and got the Kindle out of the box, new owners would want to try out their new reader. That would most likely have been done by connecting to the Amazon website and downloading a few Kindle books.
Nevertheless, selling more Kindle books than paperbacks and hardbacks is still a significant milestone. Whilst some may think that the way this was achieved was slightly artificial then perhaps that simply confirms the Kindle’s suitability for the Amazon way of doing business.
It goes without saying that Amazon’s competitors have been enviously eyeing their success and taking appropriate action to ensure that they grab a share of the new e-book reader market. The list of companies who have their own new e-book readers currently under development reads like a who’s who of consumer electronics manufacturers. Sony, Apple, Samsung and Microsoft are just a few of the competitors who will be slugging it out with Amazon in 2010. Barnes and Noble, the bookseller giant, have also entered the market with the release of their Nook e-book reader.
Many of the next generation readers will incorporate features which will make the Kindle, in its current format at least, look out of date. Color displays, touch screen controls and an industry standard e-book format which will let users lend e-books to family and friends or even to borrow books from digital libraries are just some of the features which users can anticipate.
Amazon will certainly not stand and watch whilst their competitors take over the market which Amazon has done so much to foster and encourage. The current Kindles, as innovative as they were just a few short months ago, probably bear little resemblance to what e-book readers will be like in the (very) near future. Amazon probably already has their next generation Kindle under development (the Kindle 4?) and, considering the level of drive and innovation that they have displayed thus far, Amazon will be probably be looking forward to even greater success during 2010. Kindle users can look forward to an updated, enhanced Kindle packed with new features – probably in the first half of 2010.