Quote:
Originally Posted by Hellmark
Depends on their profit margins for books and readers. Most likely they profit more on the readers, and are merely using the books to help push reader sales (similar to Apple using iTunes to push iPod sales).
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Hmm. Seems like a big mistake to me, if that is what they are doing (and I don't think they are). Apple is a hardware company, always has been. Amazon is an online retailer. They make their money by selling things cheaper and more conveniently than other retailers. I don't see why Amazon would decide on a whole new business model now, without a hardware brand, and without control over their suppliers. Apple has these things.
It especially makes no sense since there are lots of players in the market wth plenty of experience (Sony, for example, who have been in the hardware business for decades). People go to Amazon for books, and some other stuff. They don't go for Amazon-branded books, or Amazon hardware, or anything like that.
Besides, I doubt that they are selling enough Kindles for that market to be worth more than, essentially, the lion's share of the ebook market, which is theirs if they want it.
As an aside, if Amazon is selling the Kindle for less than most of the other big ebook readers, and making lots of profit, there is something really wrong with the ereader market.