The Kindle e-book reader has been a phenomenally successful product for Amazon. At the moment, it’s Amazon’s best selling product. 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 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 a 35% share of the American e-book reader market. However, there are plenty of manufacturers who have watched 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 clear indication of the business community’s faith in this market segment.
However, what many of these e-book reader wannabes may be overlooking is the fact that the reader’s technical features, as important as they are, are only one part of the equation. The success which Amazon has enjoyed with the Kindle reader up to now has been the result of various factors over and above its proven technical features. Amazon occupies an almost unique position which affords it significant competitive advantages which are important when it comes to promoting e-books and e-book readers.
It is, after all, the largest book seller in the world – bar none. It therefore has, in the view of the buying public, 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 think they can mount a serious challenge to Amazon just by releasing a reader which has a few more bells and whistles, or is somehow “cooler”, are probably going to get an unpleasant surprise when the sales returns start rolling in. It probably requires another instantly recognisable household name who is both trusted and respected to make any significant impact on the scene now. Companies such as Microsoft or Apple would be prime contenders – and they both have readers of their own, or devices which could be used to read e-books at least, in development.With their already established association with e-books – and their already respectable market share – it would also be unwise to discount Sony. Barnes and Noble? Maybe.
One thing’s for sure, no small electronics company is about 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. All the same, unless there is a truly astonishing development in the offing, it seems as if the Kindle reader is actually going to become the iPod of books.