Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenMonkey
How many i-people buy from iTunes, and how many do you think buy from Apple? Seriously? Amazon mp3 does have pretty decent iTunes integration...but still.
|
If Amazon was thinking of a tightly-integrated, vertical solution, their cloud music player makes no sense. Everything about every move they've made so far has screamed, "We don't care whose device you use." Why would they change that now?
Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenMonkey
If they had their own wildly popular tablet, with perfect Amazon integration, you think that wouldn't work better than selling Kindle books and music to iTunes users?
|
AFAIK, selling Kindle books to iPad/iPhone/iPod users has been working out pretty damn well for them. I don't expect them to get much of the iTunes music market, whatever they do. I think they've been going for the people who
don't use iTunes for music. Again, if you can make your app available on multiple platforms, why
wouldn't you do that, rather than producing another "me too" tablet that's almost certainly not going to come close to the iPad in features and/or price? Sure, they could produce a $250 Nook-like reader, and let people turn it
into a tablet, but the world's already got one of those, and it's been clear for some time now that Amazon didn't want to go the LCD e-reader route. If they'd wanted to, they could've put out such a device after the Nook Color was released.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenMonkey
It's the same reason that most Apple users buy content from iTunes - far, far, far more than anywhere else - the gadgets are streamlined and designed to encourage them buying from iTunes. I'm sure Amazon would like a piece the same thing.
|
What's more profitable: Releasing your app on every platform imaginable to let people download from Amazon, or releasing a tablet with the same software on it that only lets you download from that tablet?
You're talking about out-Appleing Apple. Has that ever worked for anyone? Ever?
Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenMonkey
Just like B&N, they can make a tablet with a very thin profit margin, and make lots of money on content. Except even more than B&N because they have Kindle books, music, movies - far more content than B&N - and by preloading and actively encouraging Amazon customers to use Amazon services and buy Amazon content.
|
The nature of Android dilutes that advantage, though. What do a lot of people have installed on their rooted Nook Colors?
Kindle software. It makes more sense to me to release software for multiple platforms than it does to release a tablet where any other software can encroach on
your platform.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenMonkey
Since the minute they officially announced their own Android marketplace, it's been incredibly obvious a tablet gadget is forthcoming. It's just a matter of time.
|
We shall see. Releasing an app store for any Android phone or tablet to use fits more with their "Get our content from anywhere" philosophy than it does with a "Get our content only through our devices" philosophy. If they were going that route, I think they would've released the market on the tablet simultaneous to the tablet's release. With the exception of the Kindle (which I think makes perfect sense, because I think they're in the e-book business first and foremost) their approach seems to be device-agnostic. While an Amazon tablet would be a cool idea from a gadget fan perspective, I don't think it makes sense for Amazon.