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The iPod may be popular, but it is by no means the only MP3 player out there. There's room for lots of MP3 player brands. If Sony made a product that looked as good and worked as well as the iPod, they could have an equal market share today. But in fact, their MP3 players, while very stylish-looking, do not work as well as most other MP3 players, so they hold a very small share of the massive MP3 player market.
The same lesson holds for the reader: Sony's product looks nicer than the Kindle, but it must work as well to be popular (and in this case, we're not talking about just the device itself, but its peripherals, such as book availability and ease of purchasing). If Sony can demonstrate that you can get as many books as from Amazon, and as easy or easier, the reader and the Kindle can coexist evenly.
Yes, the Kindle was operating with a stacked deck from the moment it arrived. But Sony could have anticipated the Kindle's features, and provided their own analogue, with a bit more forward thinking than they demonstrated. It means more work for Sony to catch up, but they have the resources to handle it (including cutting a deal with Amazon for access to their library), if they wish.
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