The Key Role Of Amazon In The Electronic Publishing Market
The recent growth in the popularity of e-books and e-book readers has been heavily influenced by Amazon. Amazon’s Kindle reader first appeared on the market during November of 2006 and subsequent updates followed with the launch of the Kindle 2.0 in February of 2009 and the launch of the third generation Kindle in August 2010. The large format Kindle DX was launched in the summer of 2009 and was also updated in August 2010.
Many industry watchers predicted that, despite Amazon’s pivotal role in the development of the e-book reader market, the launch of the versatile Apple iPad would effectively sound the death knell for the Kindle. However, after the launch of the third generation Kindle – accompanied by a reduction in the retail price – Amazon has sold out of their readers again. It appears that demand remains sky high for what is now Amazon’s number one selling product.
E-books have been readily accepted by many readers. Others have formed an attachment to physical books. However, for the majority of people the ability to carry large quantities of reading material around with them, coupled with the ease of operation offered by e-book readers, has proven to be a winning combination. Recent e-book reader price cuts, prompted or at least hastened by the launch of the iPad, have made e-book readers more attractive to many consumers.
Amazon recently announced that they are now selling more Kindle books than conventional hardback books. The lower sales price of e-books – which use no paper or ink and have no delivery fees to speak of – certainly helps. It can’t be very much longer before e-books begin to sell more than paperbacks.
The ease with which e-books can be bought, and subsequently delivered, is another influencing factor. Readers can download a book to their Kindle in less than sixty seconds, at any time of the day or night, just as long as they can connect to Amazon’s Kindle store.
A possible area of concern for some customers was the worry that they would be “tied” to one particular e-book reader. This issue has been very effectively addressed by Amazon who have released a large number of free “apps” to allow Kindle books to be read on a wide range of different devices. At the moment, Kindle books can be read on the PC, the Mac, the iPhone, the iPad, the Blackberry smart phone and any device which runs the Android operating system. It’s a smart move by Amazon. Not only does it remove the fear of being tied to a particular brand of hardware but each new app acts as a separate retail outlet for Amazon’s huge selection of Kindle books. Current figures suggest that around about 20% of all Kindle book sales are read on non-Kindle hardware.
It looks as if e-books are here for the long term and that they will gradually begin to account for a higher and higher proportion of book sales. It also looks as if Amazon are going to be very influential in the world of digital publishing for the foreseeable future.
