There’s not much doubt that the market leader in the e-book reader market is the Amazon Kindle – and the launch of the third generation Kindle reader has simply underlined Amazon’s superiority. It speaks volumes that the only credible competition for the Kindle to date has come from a device which is actually a full blown computer and which cost more than three times the cost of the Kindle – the Apple iPad.
However, even the appearance of the iPad on the scene hasn’t been enough to put a significant dent in Kindle sales. The latest generation Kindle has been flying off the shelves since it was announced at the end of July 2010 – according to Amazon, it’s selling faster than any earlier Kindle has.
Of course, one of the big advantages that Amazon has over its rivals, including the iPad, is the huge library of Kindle books available for Kindle users to choose from. There are over 670,000 title available on the Amazon website today – and that number is growing all the time. There are a further 1.8 million out of copyright titles available which can be downloaded to the Kindle for free!
Apart from the fact that this large collection of books makes the Kindle a more attractive proposition for customers, it means that Amazon can afford to have a slightly lower price for their e-book reader hardware, secure in the knowledge that customers will be buying Kindle books over the lifetime of the reader. It’s a huge advantage which Amazon has over the large majority of their competitors.
Amazon has already signalled that they see the sales of e-books being more important than the sales of e-book reader hardware by making so many free apps available which allow users to download and read Kindle books on a wide range of other personal electronic devices. Free apps currently exist for the Windows PC, the Apple Mac, the Blackberry smart phone, the iPhone, the iPad and any device which uses the Android operating system. It’s not a move that Amazon would make if they felt the need to defend the sales of their Kindle readers (currently the best selling product on the Amazon website).
When you look at the downward price movement of e-book readers in general, and the Kindle in particular, it’s not entirely out of the question that we might see Amazon giving away free Kindle readers in future as a way of securing ongoing e-book sales. It might not be indiscriminate – perhaps membership of Amazon Prime (Amazon’s premium express delivery service) would be a condition. Free provision of a Kindle might require some kind of commitment to buy a certain number of e-books every month or every year. There are a variety of options available which might make such a free Kindle reader scheme attractive to both Amazon and their customers.
It may be some way off, but it’s certainly a possible scenario for the future.