Battle? What battle you may ask. Sure, most of us were blown away by the overall success of the Amazon Kindle. The question is, why did Sony not have the same success with the Sony Reader, which was launched one year before the Kindle? And even more important is the question: Could Sony succeed if they brought out their own connected e-book device to the market? The Irish Times thinks not, for reasons it explains in
this article today:
Quote:
The Sony product is the Reader, a portable device for reading electronic books, which the company launched two years ago. This time Sony's competitor is Amazon, which has swept past Sony with the Kindle, a rival e-book reader that is showing every sign of becoming the iPod of this nascent market.
Stringer was not in charge of Sony during the Walkman debacle and partly owes his appointment three years ago to the recognition that new leadership was needed to pull the divided company together.
But the e-book battle occurred on his watch, after he identified the Reader as a product that Sony should throw its weight behind. So the ascendancy of the Kindle is - or ought to be - an embarrassment.
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So what is the status quo? In terms of titles and features the Kindle seems to have a clear advantage:
- Sony eBook store: 45'000 titles
- Amazon store: 145'000 titles, including newspapers and blogs
- Sony Reader: no online connectivity
- Amazon Kindle: 3G "Whispernet" connectivity
According to the Irish Times article, there is reason to believe that the next Sony Reader will feature online connectivity:
Quote:
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Steve Haber, head of the business, says Sony is "open" to that idea. Sony has also tried to get one up on the Kindle by allowing owners to obtain books from other online stores and libraries.
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But here are the reasons why the author believes that it could already be too late for Sony:
- Amazon has grabbed the market-leading position and established a strong brand;
- History repeats itself (iPod - Walkman);
- The Reader isn't part of Sony's core product portfolio (PlayStation, Bravia TV).