Quote:
Originally Posted by Rizla
Do you have data to back that up? To suggest that European readers are fundamentally different to Americans is silly. The difference is that the American and UK e-book market has gone mainstream and is mature, whereas in Europe it is not. Give it time.
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Aren't they? I'm thinking of the recent laws passed in the French Parliament, the one they intended to inhibit the spread of ebooks in order to preserve the culture of small bookstalls. Here, something like that causes an outcry against government interference with the markets.
It seems to me that there is a clearly different attitude toward cultural artifacts between the US and Europe.
edit: With regard to this discussion, I think that for Amazon to move into a world market they will have to innovate to meet the sensibilities of different people in different places. That or become a market for a specific portion of the bigger market.
Since Kobo has been brought in, it seems to me that the Kobo's flexibility is being prepared to meet the needs of both European and Asian markets, although it may only look like an unnecessary extravagance to us now.