Kindle Ebook Reader Series - Will It Be Amazon's iPod?

The Amazon Kindle seems to be the current hot “must have” gadget on the market at the moment. It seems very much as if the ebook reader is an idea whose moment has arrived – and the kindle ebook reader is certainly the best example of such a device on the market at the moment. It is also, and let’s make no bones about it here, cool.

The Kindle has frequently been compared to the Apple iPod - which, incidentally, now has a kindle application that permits you to read kindle books on it – by a number of industry analysts. In fact, going all the way back to the launch of the original Kindle in November of 2007, Steven Levy’s Newsweek cover piece stated that the Kindle was the “… iPod of reading”. Two and a half years down the line it seems that drawing a comparison between the two devices might go some way towards explaining the current enormous success of the Kindle – and perhaps even allow some insight into what might occur in the near future.

Amazon supremo Jeff Bezos is quoted as saying, again way back in 2007, that “This [the Kindle] isn’t a device, it’s a service.” - and that is absolutely critical to understanding why the Kindle dovetails in so perfectly in Amazon’s business model.

Some criticisms have been aimed at the Kindle’s high price – it currently sells at $359 for the Kindle 2, slightly lower than the original Kindle price of $399. The original iPod was priced at $399 when it was released – prices have reduced as the product was first accepted, and then transited through mainstream to as near as makes no difference ubiquitous. At the same time functionality has increased.

Apple is, and has been for some time now, synonymous with music downloads and has increased the available range of products to incorporate videos, games and a plethora of applications for the iPod. In a similar way, Amazon is strongly associated with books, making the kindle a perfect choice of product for them. The recent pre-launch of the larger Kindle DX is noteworthy, not simply because of the numerous technical upgrades that it boasts, but because it improves Amazon’s capability to deliver newspapers, magazines and also academic textbooks to its customers.

It would be unwise to discount the technical aspects of the Kindle family of readers completely of course, but it seems that, for Amazon, the technology is a means to an end and not the end itself. In fact, as far as e-book reader technology goes, Amazon are somewhat late to the party when you consider that there have been earlier contenders - such as the Franklin ebook (no longer being developed but still available from some sources) kicking around since 1999, and Sony have had ebook readers for quite a time. There are a number of others, some have already dropped out of the market, others are plodding on without, currently at least, attracting anything near the level of interest enjoyed by the Kindle.

Another significant advantage enjoyed by Amazon at the moment is the 3G wireless technology used to enable Kindle users to download their ebooks in under 60 seconds without the use of a computer or a broadband connection – and without being locked in to a monthly contract or requiring to furnish a download fee. It’s a fantastic example of the way Amazon have [utilised the technology to deliver a perceived benefit for their user base.

No monthly connection fee plus no download charges means that customers do not feel locked in or committed to the Amazon service, a significant factor bearing in mind the relatively high selling price and the current economic climate. Of course, while customers will be able to purchase ebooks elsewhere for use with their Kindle, it is still going to be much simpler for them to buy from Amazon’s huge, and ever expanding, selection of Kindle friendly books. Amazon are going tolot of repeat business – in the same way as Apple do with their iTunes store.

Using the iPod experience to predict the Kindle’s potential future, it seems unlikely that the Kindle will have everything its own way. As previously mentioned, there are , even now, a number of existing alternative ebook readers on the market – the Sony PRS is in all probability the most significant player aside from the Kindle at the moment, but there are others. These will either improve and provide strong competition for the Kindle or disappear from the marketplace.

Also worth considering is the fact that there are a number of new readers in development. Plastic Logic, has a Kindle DX sized reader in development which has been scheduled for launch in 2010. Rumours abound concerning the launch of an Apple tablet based notebook, suggested to be aimed at the gap between an iPod Touch and a full level MacBook. It wouldn’t be too fanciful to imagine that Apple might expand their iStore to include ebooks just as they expanded it to incorporate videos following the release of the iPhone and iPod Touch.

And it’s not just fiercer competition based on improved reader technology that Amazon may have to face. In March of 2009 Google and Sony announced that Google’s giganic library of public domain e-books would be made available for free on Sony’s reader. That’s a total of 600,000 titles and is a clear signal that the ebook reader market going to be fiercely contested in future.

At the moment Amazon is sitting pretty. It has a downloads and, most important of all – the Amazon Kindle is cool. Whether or not it grows into a ubiquitous iPod type product or not in the face of what will certainly be strong competition only time will tell. Amazon have been more than smart so far, so it seems likely that they will be a major player in this emerging market for a long time to come.

One thing seems guaranteed, we will all have the option to read books, magazines, newspapers and even college textbooks using portable digital readers in the immediate future. As competition, economies of scale and advancements in technology combine to drive prices lower this will become an increasingly popular choice for many, possibly even a majority of, readers. The way we read is set to change, perhaps faster than you might imagine.