Quote:
Originally Posted by RWood
Does Amazon want to be in the ebook market?
Will Sony Connect Store go away? Even the #2 position behind Amazon will be far more profitable than the #1 position today.
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Well, first of all, Sony is at best right now #3 in the english language ebook market, and Amazon is at best #4, so not sure where you're getting all that. Neither of them has prospects of reaching #1 within the next 12 months.
Second of all, even being #1 is meaningless to a company like Sony if that means paltry revenues. And Sony (or Amazon) defines "paltry" as "Less than $50 million per year." Remember that Sony was extremely dissappointed because the latest playstation didn't hit $200 million in sales fast enough.
Large corporations live quarter to quarter. The first time Sony (or Amazon) has 2 bad quarters in a row, they ditch every project that isn't clearly profitable and large enough to matter. Ebooks will NOT be in either of those categories for the forseeable future in either one of those companies.
I predict Sony exits the ebook market by late 2009. For exactly the same reason, Amazon exits at least in terms of hardware about one year later, 2010. It tends to take 2 to 4 years before things like this are shut down, the accountants run out of patience after that, and it is the accountants who rule the corporations. Examples: Gemstar, B&N ebooks, Sony Connect Music. All in that magic 2 to 4 year range.