The "Kindle" iPod of reading - Newsweek scoops

[TallMomof2]

Sony is first and foremost a business that makes a profit. If the Reader becomes unprofitable they will eventually drop it just like the Clie. I loved the Clie and finally switched to Palm after Sony stopped selling them in the US and they became hard to find.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

Sony is first and foremost a business that makes a profit.

I'd think Amazon is trying to make a profit too, they're certainly not a charity.

[astra]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I'd think Amazon is trying to make a profit too, they're certainly not a charity.

Yup, you are right.

That's why Sony is going to loose this market. Because Amazon is going to attract all the customers/money.

[HarryT]

Amazon were already the leading eBook seller due to their ownership of MobiPocket.

[astra]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Amazon were already the leading eBook seller due to their ownership of MobiPocket.

Well, I would say they had only some sort of fee from other bookshops who sold mobipocket books. By releasing Kindle and locking it on its own store all the profit is going right in to their pocket.

[dugbug]

Originally Posted by nathantw

You are aware that Sony is partnered with Borders and that Borders is going to part ways with Amazon

Seeing that ebook sales are largely meaningless to the bottom line of all three involved (amazon, borders, sony) I doubt there will be any fireworks or concerns from Amazon over kindle. This is strictly a niche market at the moment.

It would get interesting if Borders decides to answer kindle and simply adopt the sony unit rather than their current half-hearted "oh yeah, we sell that" attitude, or perhaps the publishers begin to feel threatened by the kindle store similar to the music industry fretting over iTunes.

In either case, the kindle has already (IMHO) overwhelmed the sony in sales, mindshare, and potential. Come 2008 you may be looking at the kindle and another category called "others". Not fair probably, but a MONSTER book site pushes this thing opposed to a tiny sony experiment that nobody but us has ever really heard about.

Had this debate happend a few weeks ago when we had that... "thing" in the FCC photo I would have rolled on the floor at the thought.

-d

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by Zoot

Sony is a gadget company getting into selling books as a sideline.

Not exactly. These days, a good 20% of their revenue is derived from being a media company, as well. They have the contacts and the expertise to make a go of it, if they so choose. Besides, Apple was a computer company before they became a music distributor/gadget maker. I wouldn't count anyone out, just yet.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by dugbug

In either case, the kindle has already (IMHO) overwhelmed the sony in sales, mindshare, and potential.

I don't know about sales, but certainly having Newsweek cover stories, News.com announcements and featured promotion on the front page of Amazon.com is giving Kindle the kind of exposure that the Sony reader should have used to catch the public's attention. If Kindle outdistances the Sony significantly, promotion will be the reason, even more than features.

[tsgreer]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

I don't know about sales, but certainly having Newsweek cover stories, News.com announcements and featured promotion on the front page of Amazon.com is giving Kindle the kind of exposure that the Sony reader should have used to catch the public's attention. If Kindle outdistances the Sony significantly, promotion will be the reason, even more than features.

Case in point: I was at Taco Bell and some came up and asked me if what I was reading on was "that Amazon ebook thingy" I said yeah and he sat down and I was showing him the different features.

I never had that happen with my Sony Reader. The promotion of the Kindle is making many regular people recognize an ebook reader for the first time...

[silvania]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Amazon were already the leading eBook seller due to their ownership of MobiPocket.

Harry,

This is simply not true. If you purely want to talk about ebook content (not hardware or software), many other ebook sellers outsell mobi, including ereader.com, fictionwise.com, ellora's cave, and possibly also ebooks.com. Amazon was never even in the top 3 of ebook sellers in the english language, even when they had a big tab on their books page for ebooks and edocs (that was before they took over mobi).

For all the hype, Sony only made it into the top 3 for a brief period of time after they released their reader. And the only reason they made it that far was because they were giving away a $50 content credit with every device sold last year. Once all those $50 credits got used, they fell out of the top 5 again.

The small privately held companies, whose only business is ebooks, have always dominated. I don't see kindle changing that, either, long term. Once the initial hype has died down it will be like sony: they'll pop up in the rankings for a quarter or two then slide back down into oblivion.