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Originally Posted by pwalker8
Amazon, on the other hand, just celebrated their 20th anniversary in July and isn't a particularly profitable company.
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Perhaps Amazon isn't as smart when it comes to retailing as it is being given credit for here on MR. We talk about how publishers need to fix their system if they want to remain relevant in the future and remain profitable. Perhaps, instead, we should be saying that Amazon needs to fix its business model if it intends to be here 10 years from now and become profitable.
Seems to me that Amazon's great claim to fame in the business world right now is market share, not profitability. No other company has been given the leeway by shareholders and the stock market that Amazon has to remain unprofitable for so many years.
Finally, it seems to me that as between the publishers' business model, which turns a profit for shareholders, and Amazon's, which doesn't, it is the publishers who have the better model. Too many MobileReaders praise Amazon's model because they think it leads to lower prices for them; that doesn't make it a good business model.
It would be interesting to see what would happen to Amazon should the publishers hold out and that inspires other suppliers to resist Amazon demands. Eventually something has to give at Amazon because shareholders are beginning to demand profitability instead of giving Amazon a free ride. At some point, shareholders will prevail and it is at that point that we will earn how customer-centric Amazon truly is.