Did the Agency Pricing Model + Kindle Apps => Amazon Victory?

[Maggie Leung]

I've found buying Kindle books via iDevices and computer much more pleasant than buying on an actual Kindle. Shopping on a Kindle is painfully slow by comparison.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by kjk

Pretty easy.From my computer (or iPad/iPhone) I can browse the Kindle store, find a book, and send it to my iPad/iPhone immediately.

Amazon has a real edge with their Kindle store right now; selection, discoverability, price, and convenience.

I'd agree, of the bookstore apps/stores available on the iPad the Amazon one is easily the best. The iBook store really is poor by comparison for someone interested in actually browsing, rather than searchin for a single known book.

[leebase]

You have to download the iBook app just like the kindle app. Still, the kindle has far more devices to sell books to. Kindle has their dedicated eink devices which are cheaper and many people prefer them...and the kindle has iPhone/iPad apps....and android, blackberry apps...and pc and Mac apps.

I don't see apple outselling amazon in ebooks anytime soon.

Lee

[Nathanael]

Originally Posted by vaughnmr

There are so many half-thruths and heavily opinionated statements in what you say...

Hmm... such as?

One thing is for sure, somehow Amazon really pissed you off!

Believe it or not, I actually do most of my book buying from Amazon.

--Nathanael

[Nathanael]

Originally Posted by leebase

I don't see apple outselling amazon in ebooks anytime soon.Lee

Thanks to everyone chiming in on my iPad question.

I'm not convinced Apple has to outsell Amazon, just capture and hold enough market share to give publishers a credible alternative.

I'm not (yet) impressed[1] with Amazon's "80% marketshare" because Amazon hasn't released breakdowns (and we all know where the devil likes to hide).

In all the discussion of Amazon's recent press release, not much attention seems to have been paid to the fact that Bezios specifically acknowledged that hardcover sales were also up. Speculating wildly here, might it be possible that the bulk of Amazon's ebook sales represent indies & self-pubs rather than cannibalized pbook sales[2]? On the off-chance that's actually true, we may be a bit premature in sending for whom the bell tolls.

--Nathanael

[1] Aside from its usefulness as an admittedly impressive bit of marketing propaganda.

[2] Really just another way of asking leebase's question: what's the ebook/pbook ratio specifically for those books available in hardcover?