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Originally Posted by Andrew H.
Amazon is not unstoppable. But they won't be stopped while their competition is playing catch-up, or while the competition is trying to just copy Amazon. They will be stopped when the competition comes up with a better plan and can execute it perfectly.
The execution is the hard part - anyone can come up with an idea, but actually putting it into practice is much much harder. See, e.g., Pottermore.
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I agree that in principle, Amazon isn't unstoppable. One of the pillars of its strategy- the loss-leader pricing approach to eBooks- is under attack from publishers large and small, and from investors impatient with continual losses. I expect that the average price of Amazon books and hardware will drift up over time.
In terms of user experience, Amazon stands alone. From Shatzkin:
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Some of this is subjective, but it still looks to me like they offer a better print searching-and-buying experience than BN.com and a better overall ebook ecosystem than Nook or Kobo. I read on an iPhone and use all the ebook purchasing systems from time to time, but I use Kindle the most because it is the best. I am close to somebody who prefers to buy from BN.com because (she says; I don’t do this research…) they give money to Democrats and Amazon gives money to Republicans, but she still does her searching at Amazon because it works better before she hops over to BN.com to make her purchase.
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I can testify that I also used to buy from BN but do my searching on Amazon. Frankly, I've stopped doing that and now just buy from Amazon.
It also maybe, btw, that there just may not BE any better business model. In that case, the only hope for BN and others will be just to out-execute Amazon. So far they haven't come close.
I think Apple's strategy is to focus on making technically superior ebooks and hoping that a general market develops for enhanced ebooks and eBook apps: but so far most people seem to want "straight narrative", text only ebooks at low prices: all of which plays to Amazon's strengths. Maybe things will be different next generation: but by the next generation, Amazon's competitors may be dead.