Quote:
Originally Posted by Barty
We won't get TTS because Amazon owns audible. This is why companies gobbling up other companies is bad for consumers
|
People keep saying this, but then by this reasoning, they should remove TTS from the Kindle app for Fire. And they acquired Audible before the first Kindle shipped, and several generations of Kindles supported both TTS and Audible.
Then we had Kindles without either TTS or Audible support, until they went ahead and added VoiceView screen reader to help settle a lawsuit. And finally Audible support went back in. But I’ve never listened to an audiobook on my Kindle, nor have I ever seen postings here from people who use this feature. This seems to suggest Audible support doesn’t really sell many audiobooks (but of course who knows other than Amazon).
Moreover Audible is overwhelmingly an English language business, and meaningless feature in non English speaking countries. TTS, if it were available in languages other than English (as on the Fire tablets) could help sell more Kindles in international markets.
And if they implemented Immersion Reading in some form on the Kindle, they could sell more audio books. (Or at least I would use my Kindle more)
I think it is more a question of priorities: Amazon (Lab126) cares much more about the Alexa platform than Kindle. It’s got a much higher growth potential and so Kindle development has languished in recent years. Any features they add incur cost to develop, test, maintain and support, and need some justification.