CW: How Amazon could screw up e-books

[Robotech_Master]

I've heard from an anonymous but highly-placed source who claims that Amazon is keeping Mobipocket from releasing a version of their reader for the iPhone, which they had completed as of August, 2008.

Amazon already is "screwing up" e-books for those people who bought encrypted Mobipocket books and would like to read them on their iPhone.

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by Robotech_Master

I've heard from an anonymous but highly-placed source who claims that Amazon is keeping Mobipocket from releasing a version of their reader for the iPhone, which they had completed as of August, 2008.

Amazon already is "screwing up" e-books for those people who bought encrypted Mobipocket books and would like to read them on their iPhone.

I really doubt they will do an iPhone app for reading. That would directly compete with their Kindle.

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

None of which are valid or well thought out. Oh well, I guess every idiot is entitled to his opinion.

In the interest of harmony and lightness of being, the llounge has asked me (well, okay, I made that up) to "translate" Ricky's posts on the occasion that she may be miscontrued as being "unhelpful" and "hurtful."

What Ricky meant to say was that, "People of diminished intellectual capacity who are unwilling to entertain views other than their own, are most likely to render an opinion that could be seen as being less than factual by those of a different, and likely more intelligent place of occupation in the space time continuum."

Thank you for watching. We will now proceed with our regularly scheduled discussion.

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Point three demonstrates Mr. Elgan's ignorance. The Kindle is as closed as the iPod; both support a nonDRM format. You don't _have_ to buy the closed format.

The way I read the article is that he's complaining that you can only buy Kindle-format eBooks from Amazon, but you should be able to purchase other formats from them. If that's his point, then I'd agree with him...

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by curtw

My suggestion is thus: The #1 thing Amazon could do to "not screw up eBooks" would be to sell Kindle books for people to read on the hardware they already own (using, of course, the Mobipocket software that Amazon already owns). Once people get a taste, they'll come and start buying the Kindle hardware as well. The taste of ease of use of iTunes on the desktop was one key to the success of Apple's iPod.

I agree with this, with one caveat: Once customers can read the books on whatever they have, they don't need the Kindle at all... or they can pick the hardware they prefer. I'd be happy to read it all on my PDA, but someday, maybe I'll buy a dedicated reader. I just want to have a choice of what reader to buy.

[Tattncat]

Originally Posted by curtw

Unfortunately, most of his points are 100% wrong.



Per Amazon's own policies, anyone who has ordered an item that is not yet being "prepared for shipping" can cancel the order with no penalty at all. If the new model costs more, Amazon can not be expected to absorb the difference. They might earn some goodwill by offering the "waiters" a discount if they are currently regularly making customers wait longer than their predicted back-order times, but I wouldn't call it a key to success.



However, Amazon seems to be stuck in the same rut as the publishing industry in believing that high prices will maximize profit. Nobody seems to get the fact that because the incremental costs of e-publishing approach zero as you sell more, the gateway to profit is volume, volume, volume at a price that people are willing to pay (which today, I would guess is about 40-50% of the cost of the physical book)



Apple has been fighting against the recording industry since day one to REMOVE this restriction. Ironically, it's been Amazon's "500 lb gorilla" leverage in being able to sell DRM-free MP3 files that gave Apple the foot in the door to also being able to sell DRM-free, and consumers the ability to move their iTunes purchases to competing portable players without the hassle of transcoding.



This is where an Apple example would have been relevant. Remember the $100 price drop in the iPhone as soon as the early adopters had passed through?

My suggestion is thus: The #1 thing Amazon could do to "not screw up eBooks" would be to sell Kindle books for people to read on the hardware they already own (using, of course, the Mobipocket software that Amazon already owns). Once people get a taste, they'll come and start buying the Kindle hardware as well. The taste of ease of use of iTunes on the desktop was one key to the success of Apple's iPod.

I totally concur.

[Tattncat]

Originally Posted by gwynevans

The way I read the article is that he's complaining that you can only buy Kindle-format eBooks from Amazon, but you should be able to purchase other formats from them. If that's his point, then I'd agree with him...

Absolutely!

[dickon25]

Originally Posted by gwynevans View Post
The way I read the article is that he's complaining that you can only buy Kindle-format eBooks from Amazon, but you should be able to purchase other formats from them. If that's his point, then I'd agree with him...

...and the other side of the coin - there are various titles which are only available in Mobi, or first available in that format, so that Amazon can have the first and longest bite of the cherry. Amazon's purchase-power with the publishers is squeezing the ebook market for those with other devices.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

I really doubt they will do an iPhone app for reading. That would directly compete with their Kindle.

I think they should take advantage of that market by having a Kindle book app for iPhone. It could interface with the Kindle store the way the Kindle does. After all, not everyone that wants to read ebooks is going to want a Kindle (or any other reader). It would be great if there were both a Mobipocket app and a Kindle app. I know Amazon has to keep them somewhat separate because Mobipocket has a deal with the retailers that sell .mobi books that they will not compete on price. While we all know they're the same format and only differ in name, I wonder if it might blur that line if you can buy and read both on the same device. I've often wondered if that's why there's no Kindle desktop reading application.

I would love to see them open up Kindle books to other devices but I think it's that old agreement that keeps them from it. I wonder if it would've been simpler for them to go with a completely different format altogether and leave .mobi out of it or even sell off Mobipocket.

[Nate the great]

I misread your post before, so I deleted my previous response.

Originally Posted by gwynevans

The way I read the article is that he's complaining that you can only buy Kindle-format eBooks from Amazon, but you should be able to purchase other formats from them. If that's his point, then I'd agree with him...

He has his facts wrong. Only a minority of the ebooks in the Kindle store are in the Kindle only format (TPZ or Topaz). Most are actually in Mobipocket format, not Kindle. True, most of the ebooks have DRM that locks them to a certain Kindle, but it is trivially easy to remove.

[pilotbob]

I would really like to see the Kindle store become a Mobi store in addition to a Kindle store. You could "register" a reader via PID similar to how you register a Kindle S/N. When you buy a Kindle book you can d/l it for your Mobi devices.

Bezos want to promote ebooks right?

BOb

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I would really like to see the Kindle store become a Mobi store in addition to a Kindle store. You could "register" a reader via PID similar to how you register a Kindle S/N. When you buy a Kindle book you can d/l it for your Mobi devices.

Bezos want to promote ebooks right?

BOb

I'm sure he would also like to not get sued by Fictionwise, BoB, etc. If what I've heard about Mobipocket's agreement with them is correct, Amazon would be in violation if it sold .mobi books at the same low prices. Mobipocket is not supposed to undercut the retailers that license the format. That's why the prices on mobipocket.com are so outrageous.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Alisa

I'm sure he would also like to not get sued by Fictionwise, BoB, etc. If what I've heard about Mobipocket's agreement with them is correct, Amazon would be in violation if it sold .mobi books at the same low prices. Mobipocket is not supposed to undercut the retailers that license the format. That's why the prices on mobipocket.com are so outrageous.

But Amazon is not mobipocket.com. I know this is splitting hairs. Also, I have not seen the agreement. Have you?

BOb

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I would really like to see the Kindle store become a Mobi store in addition to a Kindle store. You could "register" a reader via PID similar to how you register a Kindle S/N. When you buy a Kindle book you can d/l it for your Mobi devices.

Bezos want to promote ebooks right?

BOb

Wait till you hear the howl the first time Amazon priced the Kindle version of an eBook cheaper than the Mobi version. Amazon is known to sell some popular books below cost as loss leaders in its promotion of Kindle. This has helped to drive the general prices on new eBooks down a bit as competitors must price low to compete. However, without the Kindle incentive Amazon is unlikely to price a mobi book below cost and they would get beaten up severely by mobi dealers if they did (since they own mobi).

I suspect that if they offered mobi they would quit advertising the $9.95 pricing on new books. I would like to see more formats as well but I do understand what they are doing.

Dale

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

But Amazon is not mobipocket.com. I know this is splitting hairs. Also, I have not seen the agreement. Have you?

BOb

I wish we had someone here who knew the agreement in detail. I just hear it referred to from time to time. I don't know if Mobipocket and Amazon are separate enough to discourage a lawsuit. I'm not a lawyer so I can't even make an educated guess. I've just wondered about it all this time because otherwise it seems a bit silly to make a new format, not have a desktop reader, not support DRM-ed Mobipocket as a format, etc. Even if they didn't want to sell to anyone but Kindle owners to encourage people to buy Kindles, they seem to be trying to achieve degree of separation between the two retail streams and reading platforms.