Kindle E-Book Reader’s Success Is Due To Various Factors
The Kindle e-book reader has been a phenomenally successful product for Amazon. It’s currently the best selling product on the Amazon site. Amazon has a 60% share of the U.S. e-book reader market and both the Kindle 2.0 and the large format Kindle DX are now on sale to customers in more than 100 countries worldwide – increasing Amazon’s reach and growing their customer base enormously.
Right now, Amazon’s main competition is Sony – with a35% share of the American e-book reader market. However, there are a host of other companies who have witnessed the rapid growth of the e-book reader market and now want a piece of the action. This year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) had a separate section for e-book readers for the first time ever. Over two dozen companies – some of them household names, others less well known – had e-book readers on display. This is a strong indicator of the perceived potential in the market.
However, what many of these e-book reader wannabes may be overlooking is the fact that the reader’s technical features, whilst undoubtedly important, are part of the big picture. The success which Amazon has enjoyed with the Kindle reader thus far has been due to various factors over and above its proven technical features. Amazon is in an almost unique position which gives it several advantages when it comes to promoting e-books and e-book readers.
Amazon is, lest we forget, the biggest retailer of books on the face of the planet – bar none. In the eyes of the buying public, it therefore enjoys a very strong association with books. It also has a strong association with consumer electronic devices – admittedly in the capacity of a merchant – but the association is there. Of course, the Kindle has now positioned Amazon as a manufacturer (albeit the actual manufacture is subcontracted) in a big way.
So, in reality, any who imagine that they are going to steal Amazon’s crown just by releasing a reader which has a few more bells and whistles, or is somehow “cooler”, could be in for a nasty surprise. It probably requires another very well known and trusted corporation to make any significant impact on the scene now. The likes of Apple or Microsoft would be prime contenders – and both companies have their own readers, or devices which could be used to read e-books at least, in development. Sony now have a well established e-book reader pedigree, so they must consider themselves to be a contender. Barnes and Noble? Maybe.
One thing’s assured, no small electronics company is about to put a dent in Amazon’s sales figures. Partnerships, such as Plastic Logic’s agreement with Barnes and Noble, who will provide the books for the Que reader, might produce some surprises. All the same, unless there is a truly surprising development in the offing, it seems as if the Kindle reader really is set to become the literary world’s equivalent of the iPod.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!