Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
You seem to be in a rush to put words in my mouth. For the most part, monopolies don't last, barring government enforcement of the monopoly. Other companies see the opportunity and move into the space. For example, Microsoft's Internet Explorer (the one that triggered the Anti-Trust lawsuit against Microsoft in 1998 that eventually got overturned on appeal when the judge was found to have bias in the case. hum, sounds kind of familiar) has dropped in usage all the way down to 19% of the market. It didn't happen over night and the original competition (Netscape) dropped by the wayside, but Microsoft got complacent and new competition came into the arena.
IMPO, Amazon is ripe for competition in the ebook arena. The only real barrier of entry is getting the contracts to sale the various ebooks and DRM. If the publishers ever drop the DRM, then I suspect we will see a number of companies who offer books in various formats.
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You are right. I took your saying that Amazon needed to stay focused and in danger of becoming complacent an distracted to mean that you thought they already were. My mistake and I apologise.
I also agree that Amazon will eventually have stiff competition, although I don't think it will be this year or next.
I think that they are juggling too many balls, and I have seen a few of them drop already. But that is just my opinion.
I don't agree that they are a monopoly, although they do have a pretty strong position in the book market and many others.
I am aware of the Internet Explorer/Netscape examples although I was unaware that either was a monopoly. My understanding was with Internet Explorer the big objection was that it was packaged with Windows, which it still seems to be. And 19% does not seem a really shabby position.
And why would DRM have anything to do with competition in the ebook market? Publishers and authors can sell with it or without it at more than one place already including Amazon, and including of course their own stores if they have them or want to start them and most publishers and authors seem to feel it advantageous to sell with it.
Hope I am not putting words in your mouth again, and my sincere apologies for my wrong conclusion.
Helen