05-22-2014, 02:12 PM | #1 | |
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Amazon is destroying e-reader innovation
I was reading this article earlier: http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/201...tablet-for-35/
It's main subject is using a Nook STR as an e-ink tablet, but it states at the start that: Quote:
In addition, not only are there more brands of readers, but those e-readers demonstrate more innovation than we are seeing in the American market. I am thinking particularly of e-readers that use an open Android OS, but also larger screens. As it stands in America, it's pretty much 6" readers with a closed OS. This seems a shame to me. I would like to have a large e-ink e-reader that could double as an e-ink monitor that I could access via a PC and / or control via a keyboard. But in North America, we are going backwards. To access anything innovative, I would have to ship from Europe or Asia. It seems the market is reducing our choices, not increasing them. I blame Amazon's almost total monopoly for this situation. |
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05-22-2014, 02:32 PM | #2 |
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It's DRM that's destroying ereader inovation. Without propriatory DRM on ebooks any company could build an ereader that could buy from any store. And no forcing everyone to use epub and Adobe's DRM isn't the solution. DRM not only supresses ereader inovation, it surpresses format inovation and greatly harms small independent ebook sellers. With the exception of DRM on library ebooks DRM is utterly evil. And useless for it's stated purpose.
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05-22-2014, 02:46 PM | #3 | |
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Quote:
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05-22-2014, 02:46 PM | #4 | |
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Quote:
We'd probably see more competition in the e-book marketplace as well if DRM was dropped. That said, I'm not sure it's all due to Amazon's monopoly. The market in the US overall seems to prefer tablets over dedicated e-readers now. So Amazon has a bit of the whole "last vendor willing to invest money in developing new e-readers" thing going on too. |
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05-22-2014, 03:02 PM | #5 |
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By all means, lets just ignore the possibility that not enough Americans are interested in buying eink devices (or rather, dedicated ereaders in general) to justify further R&D. It was a niche market that got saturated. The ereader market hasn't come to a standstill in the U.S., it's just migrated to software that runs on mobile multi-function platforms. Did we really believe a handful of hardcore stand-alone ereader aficionados could sustain an entire hardware industry indefinitely--Amazon or no Amazon?
Last edited by DiapDealer; 05-22-2014 at 03:13 PM. |
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05-22-2014, 03:24 PM | #6 |
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So what's different in Europe? Do people read more there? In the US there is that whole anti intellectual thing going on - who knows if it makes people read less.
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05-22-2014, 03:31 PM | #7 |
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No, it's lack of competition. Amazon is large in Europe, too, but there are alternatives. In Germany most of the other chain book stores got together and founded the "Tolino" alliance. They've been keeping Amazon on their toes ever since.
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05-22-2014, 04:03 PM | #8 |
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It's the walled garden model. Sell the hardware at a loss because you count on making the money from selling the content later. There's no opportunity for competition to enter the market because even if you have a better product there's no profit in the hardware and it's too hard to get people to switch. Established players don't have to improve the hardware because there's no competition. It's get in early, establish your market share and collect the money from your locked in customers.
The American market bought into it though and I suspect the European and Asian markets will follow. |
05-22-2014, 05:06 PM | #9 |
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Different?
Smaller, less mature markets, supported primarily by hobbyists and entusiasts. That means specialty hardware is valued more than low cost. Also, most specialty readers rely on Kobo and the generic ebookstores and in the US the price fix conspiracy mortally wounded most of the generics. The UK is also a mature market where ebook sales have hit the mainstream and it closely resembles the US: low cost in hardware and ebooks rules. Which means Amazon's message of no muss, no fuss cheap reads drives the market there, too. Basically, in the US, it's all about the books and the gadgets (and hobbyists) are an afterthought. |
05-22-2014, 05:38 PM | #10 |
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05-22-2014, 05:40 PM | #11 |
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I agree. It's simple product lock-in. Unfortunately Amazon has no interest in offering anything other than a 6" reader.
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05-22-2014, 06:10 PM | #12 | |
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Quote:
Independent bookstores have always relied on developing a relationship with customers, something that the big chains never did. I personally know only a few people who feel any kind of relationship with any bookstore. Lacking that, most people buy their books on price and convenience alone. Personally, I feel like I have a relationship with an indie bookstore. I am unwilling to go on lugging a pile of paper books but I am willing (if not overeager) to pay a dollar or two extra to get my ebooks from my bookstore. Kobo is America’s independent bookstore brand and they are still in the game. The latest Kobo hardware is much better than some readers of these forums would have you think. Sadly, America’s independent bookstores seem to have lost faith in their own survival and only halfheartedly support selling eBooks. (Or at times, even the paper ones.) Amazon’s business model relies on their shareholders/board of directors allowing them to go on year after year without paying a single dollar in dividends. That works while their stock value keeps going up and their shareholders can take their profit in stock value, thus gaining the tax advantage of growing wealth over income. It seems to me that the model will max out someday when there is no longer anywhere for Amazon to expand so profitably, or alternatively, until Amazon becomes a true monopoly in the book business and are sued and broken up by the government’s regulators. |
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05-22-2014, 06:36 PM | #13 | |
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Quote:
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05-22-2014, 06:54 PM | #14 |
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Sigh, you people really need to get over your obsession with only reading on a one note machine. Ebooks and ereading is alive, well, and more than likely growing since most of us are reading on our phones, and tablets and we are reading more than ever before.
In your own way you people are just as much dinasaurs as the price fix BPH-5. You refuse to be flexible, you refuse to change, and you are the minority. So stick with your eink machines til they all die, the rest of us will continue marching on happily reading on whatever devices we have that can display ebooks, play music, make phone calls etc. The only thing Amazon is guilty of is giving people what they want, all in one convenient place, at prices we are willing to pay. There is nothing illegal or destructive about that since we are the ones making the purchasing decisions. Last edited by cfrizz; 05-22-2014 at 06:57 PM. |
05-22-2014, 07:59 PM | #15 |
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Amazon has done nothing wrong. It's not their fault that people don't want to buy anything but a Kindle e-reader.
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