Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Maltby
It is more than ironic that Amazon goes to that much trouble to offer free books, in their marketing, but force away paying customers, who won't accept their device/file format restrictions.
Luck;
Ken
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Nothing ironic.
Just good business sense.
It's all about return on investment.
Remember that Kindle predates epub.
So from Amazon's point of view, epub readers are people who chose not to read on devices compatible with their service (Kindles, PCs, Android, iOS). They see no obligation, legal or moral, to go out of their way to support people who chose not to be customers.
The expected return on that market doesn't justify the investment and operating costs required. And that is before factoring in the strategic disadvantages arising from propping up competitors and muddling the message to customers with format and DRM issues.
The likes of us might be interested in the differences between mobi 7, KF8, KFX, epub 2, epub3, FB2, FB3, etc but the mainstream Kindle customer doesn't. All they care about is that the ebook they buy can be read on their devices. To them, a Kindle ebook is a Kindle ebook. 1-click and done.
Works for them, works for Amazon.
When I bought my PB360 I knew it wasn't Kindle compatible.
Just as I knew my XBOX wouldn't play Sony exclusives.
I no more expect Amazon to bend over backwards for me than I expect Sony to support my XBOXes. (And there's a heck of a lot more XBOX users than epub readers. Sony still lives fine without our business.)
It's the way walled gardens work: you place your bet and live with the consequences.