Quote:
Originally Posted by Azayzel
I'll tell you what though, if I worked for Adobe I'd pitch a device that supported their format and tailor it just right; just imagine what kind of device they could have and the potential for revenue it could generate. Amazon is smart, they saw the eBook revolution coming and jumped on a wave as soon as they saw it (let's just hope they don't get tossed too hard for their crappy prototype! Yikes, were they the lowest bidders?)
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Great post. I'm not sure I agree with this part, though. Different industries take different kinds of expertise. Those abilities either take a long time to develop internally or they cost a lot to buy. Hardware companies need skills in product develop, manufacturing management, customer service, supply-chain management. Those are things that software companies don't have.
Software companies have their own special skill set, too. Their customer service is different, supply-chain is often electronic, which adds its own customer service burden. Project management and product development are very different those needed for hardware.
Then you've got service-oriented companies like Amazon, with a whole new set of skills. Amazon is good at moving boxes and managing suppliers. They've developed tons of expertise in Web development, usability, and data management.
I think that the last thing Adobe should do is try to get into the hardware business, unless they just go buy an existing manufacturer. Personally, I think Amazon is making a mistake trying to put out its own hardware. They can influence the supply of source material, they have a format/DRM infrastructure that's multi-device, and they have a gazillion customer eyeballs. They should stick with what they do best and try to get as many device makers as possible to play along.
Adobe should do the same thing. They should put their efforts into proselytizing for the format and selling tools that support it. That's what they're good at. It's how they took the market back from Quark. Quark went to sleep and Adobe went into fifth gear.
If an all-in-one attempt, like the one Amazon appears to be going for, fails, everyone sees e-books as a failed industry and a bad investment. If an e-book device maker fails, or an e-bookseller fails, or a format fails, the failure is isolated and the industry moves on.
Sony could make a run at the all-in-one solution because they're a little bit different. They already have expertise in hardware, software, and media. Yes, they have a reputation for format-locking and problematic customer service, but that reputation doesn't extend very far beyond the gadget community. Even the CD rootkit fiasco didn't go very far in the mainstream media.