When the iPad was announced earlier this year, one of the first reactions most observers had was that Amazon’s Kindle bookreader had been put on the fast road to extinction. The iPad, for all its flaws, offers a much more comprehensive entertainment and media consumption experience while the Kindle is a restrictive single-purpose device. Why buy a Kindle for $259 when you can spend $499 and buy what is essentially a mini-computer in the iPad? As predicted, consumers are drifting away from the Kindle, the clearest indication of which we received yesterday when Amazon cut its price from $259 to $189. Should Amazon throw in the towel on the Kindle and move on?
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Amazon is one of the best retailers on the planet and they need to exploit that by squeezing Apple out of the e-book retail market (e.g. offering publishers more attractive terms, being better at predicting what books consumers will prefer based on their past choices). Initially, Apple is going to try to cut Amazon out of the e-book ecosphere with the iPad by fostering a closed environment, but that is never a long-term viable strategy and sooner or later the retailer offering the best and widest collection of e-books packaged in a superior user experience will come out ahead, regardless of who controls the hardware. That is a battle Amazon has a great shot at winning.
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What, no razor vs blades analogy? Perhaps that’s too 20th century. OK, iPod vs iTunes.
I suggest that the electronic book file format should not aim to match the hardcover experience, but to maximize the hypertext reading experience.
A properly designed and implemented hypertext is much better.
I for one (and I have many friends and associates that feel the same) hope that Amazon continues to produce and support the Kindle. I do not want an iPad. I do want a small, light, easy to use, view and hold eReader – which the iPad, and notebooks and netbooks, are not.
People looking to buy ebook readers and that only, will go for the kindle or the nook, while most others will lunge towards the ipad. If the iPad 2nd gen has a transflective display on the back of the iPad, no one will further buy ebok readers
It still floors me when people compare the Kindle or Nook to an iPad. The primary purpose of the Kindle is reading that is easy on the eyes using e-ink. You can read all day without it bothering your eyes. People who buy an iPad try to use it for reading, but i don’t think that is why you would by one. The backlit screen will mess with your vision if you try and read for any length of time. For $189 readers will still purchase Kindle or the $149 Nook. It is not an iPad, but it is and will continue to be marketed to readers….and it is dirt cheap compared to an iPad!