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 its larger sibling the DX are now available internationally – extending Amazon’s reach and hugely increasing their potential customer base.
Currently, Amazon’s major competition comes from Sony, who have a considerably smaller but nonetheless very respectable 35% share of the market. There are a whole raft of other manufacturers who, having seen the way that the e-book reader market has taken off, are now eager to secure a share of the profits for themselves. This year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, for the first time ever, had a special section just for e-book readers. It’s a very clear signal of the potential for growth that industry analysts are predicting in the sector.
Nevertheless, what many of these aspirational companies may be neglecting is the fact that, whilst the technical features of the hardware are an important factor, they do not make up the whole picture. Amazon’s success with the Kindle to date has been the result of a number of different elements over and above the undoubted technical merits of the Kindle hardware. Amazon currently occupies a practically unique position which affords it a number of distinct advantages related to selling both e-books and the readers to view them on.
After all, Amazon is the world’s largest book retailer – without exception. In the opinion of potential customers it therefore has a proven pedigree when it comes to books. It also has a very strong link with consumer electronics, as a merchant – but the association exists. In other words, Amazon is a trusted supplier of both books and electronic gadgets.
The fact of the matter is that any manufacturer who imagines that they will be able to displace Amazon from the number one slot, or even to make serious volumes of sales, simply by producing a reader which has a slightly better technical specification is probably going to be somewhat disappointed when the sales figures start coming in. It will probably require another household name, who also has earned a good deal of consumer trust over a period of years, to make any significant inroads into Amazon’s sales. Microsoft or Apple could be contenders, and both of these companies have readers – or devices which could serve as readers – under development. Sony’s already established association with e-book readers, combined with their current market share, means that they must be viewed as a serious contender in future. Barnes and Nobles book selling credentials could also stand them in good stead.
One thing’s for sure, no small electronics manufacturer is going to break Amazon’s stranglehold on the market. Tie ups, such as Plastic Logic’s agreement with Barnes and Noble, who will provide the books for the Que reader, might throw up a few surprises. However, unless there is a truly surprising development in the offing, it looks like the Kindle reader really is set to become the iPod of books.
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categories: e-book readers,ebooks,e-books,gadgets,personal tech,mobile computing,technology,electronics,marketing,shopping