Quote:
Originally Posted by olis
Very simple, you are giving the possibility to millions of iphone/touch users of not being tied to a kindle purchase.
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Oh, I see what you mean, but I think you're missing the point here. They don't care if they sell you Kindle hardware or Kindle software, you're still tied into the Amazon sales chain.
Having installed the software on your iPhone you're much more likely to go back to Amazon for your next book and much less likely to install a competing e-reader app(*). Having bought an ebook from Amazon, you can only read it through their software or on a Kindle. Chances are that as soon as you have a few books, you'll decide the iphone screen is a bit small and buy a Kindle as well.
Either way, you'll be buying books from Amazon and they'll make far more money from customers coming back than they do on a one-off hardware purchase.
(*) Of course, you
can install a competing e-reader app on the iphone, there's nothing Amazon can to stop you. However they aren't actually giving you more freedom by providing the Kindle app on a platform that isn't in direct competition with the Kindle hardware.