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And it is not like Waterstone's was not trying to find a different partner. We know that they were talking to Barnes and Noble. Something happened there that killed that deal. So BN blew an oppertunity to move into the UK and challenge Amazon.
I know that some people are into making Amazons dominance into a bad thing for everyone. In the long run, it might be. I doubt it because Amazon knows that people shop with them due to low prices and great customer service. Jacking up prices runs counter to that and would cause them to lose ground. There are challengers in many different industries, ebooks and ereaders being just one, who are looking to pounce on any weakness.
Whether people like it or not, Amazon did not get to be were it is in the ereader market because of foul play. When Amazon entered the market the only other main stream, and really it was not all that main stream, was the Sony. People here knew of other readers but the vast majority of consumers did not. Heck, the vast majority of consumers, myself included, did not even know of the Sony.
Amazon choose to enter the market at that time, with a well developed device that allowed people to download books straight without a computer. They were able to set prices lower then hardback books on release day and save people money that way. Newspaper subscriptions were less through the Kindle then they were in paper. They sold the device based on what it could do and how it could save money.
It turned into a popular niche item, picked up mainstream supporters (Hello Oprah), gained momentum, and dominance. No one has been able to knock it from that spot because they have not been able to build a better machine (most of the major ereaders do pretty much the same thing and work well) or a better bookstore. Even with the publishers doing their darndest to stop Amazon's dominance, Amazon remains the dominant player in the US and is growing into dominance in other countries.
BN has for some reason botched an international release. They had a great oppertunity with Waterstones but was not able to capitalize. It is hard to see how they would break into the UK market with any success now. Amazon is the major player in South America and Africa because it is the only one that sells there easily. Sony and Kobo are international but Sony's are more expensive then Kindles every where outside the US and Kobo is still limited internationally.
Amazon did not go out and club the competition to death. Amazon developed a great marketing plan that filled a void first in the US and now is filling the void globally. Waterstones knows that it can make money selling Kindles. The deal they struck makes it sound like that make money off of books sold on Kindles that are bought at Waterstones. It will be interesting to see what their ebook store looks like, if it sells epub and mobi. But they knew that this was something that they need to do and Amazon had the best deal on the table.
You can complain about the deal or you can look at Sony, BN, and Kobo and shake your head and ask what the hell are they thinking.
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