Kindle Reader Produces Great Results For Amazon
Towards the end of the year, when Amazon’s management team get together to review the company’s performance in 2009, they will have some reason to feel content – but not smug. It’s been a great year for the internet retail giant – and a lot of the credit must go to the Amazon Kindle reader.
Amazon released the Kindle 2 in February of 2009. It was generally regarded as a big step in the right direction. Amazon had clearly listened closely to customer feedback regarding the original Kindle, which debuted in 2007. Wireless connectivity and the enormous selection of Kindle books were retained and faster page turns, longer battery life and increased storage capacity were among the improvements which were introduced.
Best selling author, Stephen King wrote a special Kindle book to mark the launch and the Kindle 2 rapidly became the “must have” gadget amid a blaze of publicity.
Just a few months later, in June of 2009, Amazon launched the Kindle DX. This had a large display and was targeted at readers of newspapers, magazines and academic textbooks. Somewhat surprisingly perhaps, it was the stuffy world of academic publishing that helped to gain the DX a lot of publicity.
The academic community was quick to realise the potential benefits the Kindle offered. Not only would it be very much faster to update textbooks but interactive education – pop quizzes and tests for instance – would be possible. Academic bodies would not only save money as a result of using electronic books, but they would be more environmentally friendly also – an important factor for such establishments who have both budgets and environmental targets to meet nowadays.
As well as agreeing partnerships with a number of universities and colleges, Amazon profited from a lot of publicity generated by political bodies such as the New Democratic Leadership Council and Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger – both of whom waxed lyrical on the educational potential of e-book readers in general and the Amazon Kindle in particular.
However, as bright as things appeared for Amazon, there were signs that trouble was looming. Other manufacturers, having seen Amazon develop the e-book reader market, were now becoming aware of the enormous potential of this fledgling sector. An impressive list of competitors, including companies like Apple, Microsoft, Barnes and Noble and Sony, wanted their share – and they all had their own readers in development.
It’s a compliment to Amazon – albeit a backhanded one that almost every ebook reader under development which shows the slightest potential is immediately given the title of the “Kindle Killer”. The problem is that, at the moment, and despite all the development work by the competition, Amazon is still the only show in town. Sony’s Daily Edition reader and the Nook from Barnes and Noble have both had their release dates put back. In fact, it looks increasingly likely that the most probable source of the long awaited Kindle Killer might be Amazon itself. The Kindle 4 looks like the most likely challenger. Can we expect to see it in 2010?
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