Quote:
Originally Posted by cromag
Sorry. I'm definitely a device person, not a service person. I don't like buying something and then being tied to an ongoing service. I'd like to buy the most suitable device and then buy content at the best sites for that content -- preferably with multiple sites competing for my business.
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That is ideal from a consumer point of view. But it's not always an option, unfortunately.
I think the point Amazon is really making is that consumers want both a device *and* some way of easily getting content on the device. Selling the device and not worrying about the content means few people will buy the device because there's not much they can do with it.
The Kindle is a good example. The Sony reader was introduced more than a year before the Kindle came on the market (the Librie several years earlier, but only in Japan). However, the Kindle quickly overtook the Sony and within a couple of years had 90% of the US market. The reason for this is simple: with the Kindle you could buy books from Amazon, wirelessly. Sony didn't have a store at all at that time.
Device+Service 90; Device alone 10.
It's notable that when B&N came on the scene with their device+service, they didn't take long to get to 25% of the market; again, because they offered device+service.
The key, though, is that you have to actually be offering a *real* service. Something that people actually want. Something that adds actual value to a device.
And of course in some markets, you can just offer the device because the content for the device is readily available.
I think time will tell whether the Fire is in the first or second market.