Thread: Lexcycle has been acquired by Amazon
View Single Post
Old 04-28-2009, 02:42 AM   #52
bhartman36
Wizard
bhartman36 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bhartman36 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bhartman36 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bhartman36 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bhartman36 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bhartman36 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bhartman36 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bhartman36 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bhartman36 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bhartman36 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bhartman36 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
bhartman36's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,323
Karma: 1515835
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: New Jersey, USA
Device: Kobo Libra Colour, Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (2021)
Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal View Post
Right now the Stanza reader works only on the iPhone, Amazon already has an iPhone reader.
Stanza can be used to read books on the iPhone, a Windows PC, or a Mac. I don't have much doubt that with a little extra work, an app can be put out for Blackberry or the upcoming Palm Pre. The idea would be to get it working on as many platforms as possible so that Amazon could sell books.







Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal View Post
Furthermore it has an in house reader software development team in Mobipocket. EPUB is an open standard that is particularly easy to develop reading software for, by buying Stanza, Amazon doesn't gain any great wealth of proprietary code. The unique thing about Lexcycle was their attempt to develop a platform for independent retailers.
That's not really true. The thing that Lexcycle did that Amazon might have interest in is that they have the ability to download directly from Fictionwise to the software. That means that Kindles can read Fictionwise books without the use of scripts to strip the DRM. This would put Fictionwise (i.e., Barnes and Noble) in a tough spot: Do they simply keep the DRM as-is, and give the Kindle a big advantage in the market (even though they will be coming out with a competing reader), or do they change the DRM, leaving iPod/iPhone users and Kindle users without an easy way to purchase from Fictionwise?

I see the acquisition of Lexycle as an interesting way of keeping Barnes & Noble in check.


Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal View Post
If Amazon wanted to make their books available on multiple platforms, they could easily have done so via the Mobipocket software (which they also took over and then stifled).
Stifled how?

Last time I checked (a few minutes ago), Mobipocket was even distributing the MobiPocket Creator Publisher Edition, which works with ePub, among other formats.

If you're talking about "the Python script with no name", then I think that situation is a little bit different. (It's more confusing to me, since I don't see why a book from one Amazon company shouldn't be readable on a device from another, but nonetheless, it's different.)


We might be talking about different kinds of "platforms", here. I doubt Amazon has any interest in epub or prc format. What I'm talking about is hardware platforms.

That Amazon wants to make their books available on multiple hardware platforms is beyond serious dispute. Otherwise, the Kindle iPhone software wouldn't exist at all. If Amazon didn't want to sell books to other platforms, all they would have to do is nothing. They've already got a DRM'd proprietary format. All they'd have to do is make the Kindle work with only DRM'd AZW or Topaz files. What you'd be left with is a perfectly serviceable device for reading only Amazon e-books. They didn't do that because they realize that there's value in being able to read multiple formats. And you can bet that the acquisition of Lexycle and Stanza makes it both easier to sell Amazon's books on other platforms, and easier to undercut Barnes & Noble in any e-book they develop.

This is easy to forget, I guess, but Amazon isn't generally in the business of selling gadgets (not their own, anyway). Their main product, as a company, is books. The Kindle's main purpose is to promote, download, and display Amazon's books for reading. Getting the Kindle (or at least its software) into as many hands as possible can only be good for Amazon. And dabbling in other formats isn't a negative, when the software itself is so Amazon-focused.


Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal View Post
The question here is why Amazon took over Stanza, today. The only reason that makes sense, is to control the spread of non Amazon retail channels. And competitors to Amazon are certainly not insignificant today.
But Amazon can't control the non-Amazon retail channels that way. In order for a retail channel to exist, all that needs to happen is a supplier and a software developer get together. For example, all Fictionwise would have to do (again, if it was all about distribution) would be to distribute a different piece of software. Amazon buying Lexcycle to stop epub (for example) would be like Microsoft buying OpenOffice. People who still wanted to use the OpenOffice ODF format would still do so, and if there was a market, the developers would accommodate them.

The people at Amazon know all this. They wouldn't be foolish enough to try to stop a competitor simply by cutting off support for their format in a piece of software. They'd be much more likely to use the "adopt and extend" model, incorporating the format into their software to make the Kindle more useful.

The most immediate effect of this will be that the Kindle can work seamlessly with Fictionwise. Longer term, it means that we could be in for a real format war, with both sides trying to a) be compatible with the most devices and b) have features the other one lacks.
bhartman36 is offline   Reply With Quote