Quote:
Originally Posted by TadW
I think the form of the device is irrelevant. It's even irrelevant if Sony manages to bring out a new device with similar connectivity like the Kindle. Key to success is the store. Why do you think Apple has put so much focus on their iTunes stores? App Store has already been responsible for 60 million downloads! This is where the big money comes from, not from the selling of hardware.
To succeed, Sony would have to come up with a one stop shop that even tops Amazon - something, given Amazon's long history and experience in online book retailing, I find impossible to do. Hence Sony's days in the e-book biz are numbered... unless, perhaps, if they concentrated on the hardware and became exclusive hardware supplier to Amazon, they could still stand a chance...  |
I think this is truly key for the mass market. Most of us on this forum are willing to play around and de-drm for personal use and convert formats for our reader of choice. For the mass market this will not work.
For broad adoption it needs to be push button easy and that is exactly what amazon has done. Couple that with the large available content in one easy to use location and you have the best chance at reaching a broad market. Hopefully 2.0 will address some of the hardware issues and improve on the software a bit. I currently hate their book formats and would like the flexibility of adjusting margins, line spacing and fonts. Speeding things up a bit would be nice as well.