Flashlights

Amazon is having a busy time of it just at the moment. They have recently announced the upgrade of their tremendously successful Kindle 2.0 and Kindle DX readers and pre-order rates are extremely high right now. Stocks of the third generation 6” Kindle are depleted and customers are now pre-ordering to get their Kindle delivered, on a first-come-first-served basis, within four to five weeks.

This latest upgrade includes a higher contrast display, more memory, quicker page turns and color choice of graphite or white . The 6” display version also has 21% smaller body and is 15% lighter, at 8.7 oz. Amazon has also released an entry level Wi-Fi only model of the 6″ display Kindle for customers who do not have need of a 3G connection.

All of this is accompanied by a reduction in the sales price. The 6” Kindle version Wi-Fi only model retails at $ 139, with the 3G plus Wi-Fi model on sale for $ 189. The Kindle DX large display model can now be yours for $ 379. These represent major price reductions compared to the Kindle 2.0 launch $ 359 price and the recent DX edition price of $ 489.

A lot has been made of the possible impact of the Apple iPad on Kindle reader sales figures. In all probability the release of Apple’s iPad has prompted, or at least hastened, this latest round of e-book reader price cuts. However, the above prices are considerably lower than the entry level iPad price and, for a lot of customers, the fact that 3G is available with no monthly fee will be seen as a very positive aspect of the Kindle price plan.

As well as the various upgrades to the hardware and the price reductions, Amazon will also open a UK Kindle store. Consumers in the UK will no longer require to have their Kindles shipped across the Atlantic. The UK Kindle store launches in August 2010 and will, initially, have around 400,000 Kindle books on offer. It seems reasonable to assume that other Amazon websites will soon have their own Kindle stores and that customers will be able to have their Kindles supplied locally.

The recent price drop in the e-book reader market may be an indication that the market, although still relatively young, is maturing. Reduced hardware prices will change the emphasis from hardware sales towards the sale of the e-books themselves. Amazon, who have an interest in both hardware and book sales may be better placed than companies whose main interests lie in hardware manufacture and sales only. Whatever the future may bring, and it seems probable that the future of reading will have a strong digital element, Amazon seem well placed to remain as a highly influential player in the development of the market.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Technorati Tags: amazon kindle, Apple iPad, ebook readers, ebooks

This time last year, the new market for e-book readers was really taking off – gold rush style. Following the stunning success which Amazon had achieved with its Kindle reader – first with the Kindle 2.0 in February of 2009 and then with the large format DX edition in the summer of the same year – a veritable host of personal electronics manufacturers were either developing, releasing or updating their own e-book readers so as to get their share of the nascent market.

Sony and Barnes and Noble were working feverishly to get their new readers to market in advance of the 2009 festive season and Plastic Logic, Asus and a number of others were rushing to get their readers released as quickly as they could manage. The Computer Electronics Show (CES), which took place in Las Vegas in early 2010, had a special zone dedicated to e-book readers for the first time ever. E-book readers were a hot new emerging market.

Currently, no more than a few short months later, the scene is very different. The price of e-book readers has tumbled. The latest third generation Kindle now has a Wi-Fi only entry level model available for only $ 139 – less than 40% of the $ 359 price which the Kindle 2.0 launched. The price of Barnes and Noble’s Nook reader is also down on its launch price at $ 149 – and you can expect to see this fall further prior to the festive season.

A number of e-book readers in development – including Plastic Logic’s Que – have been shelved. The market seems to be entering a new stage in its development – and whether there is any place in it for pure electronics manufacturers or not is highly debatable. Amazon’s business model is very well suited to selling lower priced readers and making a profit on the ongoing sales of Kindle books. A similar strategy would be available to Barnes and Noble of course, but it’s debatable as to whether or not they can benefit from the same types of economies of scale as Amazon.

Of course, it would be lunacy to suggest that the launch of the Apple iPad had not played a major part in this. It’s certain that the price of e-book readers would have trended downwards anyway – but the iPad’s launch certainly speeded things up a bit. However, based on the fact that the third generation Kindles sold out shortly after launch – even today customers are facing a three to four week wait before their Kindles will ship – it doesn’t look as if the iPad is the long awaited Kindle Killer that it was widely predicted to be.

Even disregarding the debate about e-ink displays being better for reading on than backlit screens, there is – currently at any rate – more than enough daylight between the Kindle price and the price of even the entry model of iPad to make the Kindle a very attractive option for prospective customers whose chief interest is reading books. The iPad’s monthly connection fees will be a stumbling block for many customers.

It does look as if there is enough room in the market for both the Amazon Kindle and the iPad to co-exist – for the foreseeable future at least. Other e-book reader manufacturers, including Sony and Barnes and Noble, seem destined to struggle as hardware prices will continue to fall.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Technorati Tags: amazon kindle, Apple iPad, ebook readers, ebooks