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Someone will figure out how to build a decent e-book bookstore to compete with Amazon. There is money to be made in this industry and a smart person or group of people will figure out how to make a more main stream website that sells books in Mobi and E-Pub at competitive prices.
I am more then a bit surprised that BN and Kobo do not stock every book that Amazon does that they can. Obviously there is nothing that they can do about the exclusives but there are e-books available, that are not exclusives, that cannot be found at their stores. I am thinking of people posting about niche areas like technology, programming texts, and the like. How much does it cost to store the e-book on your server and make it available to the people looking for those books? How hard is it to have a staff of 10 whose main job is to search for titles that Amazon has that you do not and contact authors and Publishers and ask them to sell that book at BN or Kobo? It might mean an initial investment but if it helps you challenge Amazon in the long run, it is money well spent.
Why don't BN and Kobo sell Mobi books? The Publishers are not happy with Amazon. Why not suggest that Mobi books without DRM can be sold at BN and Kobo so that Kindle users can shop at those stores. It might increase the number of people who shop at your store because people not interested in DRM might chose to buy from you and not Amazon.
E-books are growing in popularity. Everyone knows that. Someone is going to figure out a way to challenge Amazon. They might not match Amazon but they can do better then BN, Sony, Kobo, and Apple are.
Assimilation is not painful. We provide tea and cookies to members or the collective on a daily basis. But the truth is you know how to buy books from Amazon in the rare event that it is there and not at another store and make it work on your E-Pub. You enjoy your Kobo and Sony. There is no reason to buy a Kindle. I can see moving because Amazon puts out a new device that is totally different and awesome, I can't see moving because the E-Pub companies are idiots.
I do think it might be better for the E-Pub market to lose some of the players, Sony with its awful bookstore maybe, so that there is less infighting among the EPub players which might allow them to focus more on Amazon. The reality is Amazon does not have to worry about competition within its format so it can focus on other things. BN has to be worried about Kobo and Sony. Kobo might be the best positioned for long term success. The device is good (I don't get why it does not have the bells and whistles that the Nook and Sony have), the book store is good, the coupons are suppose to be nice, and it is established internationally. Sony is international but has a sucky bookstore, I don't think it cares about developing a better bookstore, and it is still more expensive then other devices outside the US. BN has a good bookstore, a good device, but has not figured out the international market.
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