Will 2010 See The Release Of The Amazon Kindle 4?
It’s been a big year for e-book readers – chiefly due to the efforts of Amazon. Amazon launched the Kindle 2 in February 2009, which was an updated and enhanced version of the original Kindle which was released in November 2007.
In June of 2009, Amazon followed up with the Kindle DX, which was a large format version of the Kindle 2. It was specifically targeted at readers of magazines, newspapers and academic textbooks – and it caused quite a buzz.
The potential for academic use – from interactive textbooks to continually updated texts, and not forgetting the possibility for academic bodies to save a good deal of money – attracted a lot of attention. As well as entering into agreements with a number of colleges and universities, Amazon got a lot of free publicity from political bodies such as the New Democratic Leadership Council and also Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his capacity as Governor of California.
Thanks to Amazon’s foresight and innovation – aided by all the free publicity – the Amazon Kindle reader has now become Amazon’s top selling product.Right now, the Kindle has an astonishing 60% share of the U.S. e-book reader market and has recently released an international version. The Kindle has now grown to be virtually a byword for e-book readers.
It’s probably worth pointing out that Amazon were, in fact, a late entrant to the e-book reader market. The original e-book reader, the Franklin eBookman, debuted in 1999 – ten years ago. The Sony PRS reader was launched in 2007, prior to the launch of the Kindle 1.
Amazon might not have been first to market – but by combining clever, technical innovation and an awareness of customer needs, Amazon has reached its current dominant position. The huge selection of titles available for the Kindle on Amazon’s website and the wireless connectivity (with no monthly fee) were every bit as key to the Kindle’s success as were the technical features of the device.
However, now that Amazon has – almost single handedly – developed the market, it seems that all the other consumer electronics manufacturers want their share. Microsoft, Sony, Apple, Barnes and Noble, iRex, Plastic Logic, Asus – the list goes on – all have their own devices set for release or in the late stages of development.
Wireless connectivity, currently one of Amazon’s unique selling points, will become normal and Barnes and Noble will offer users of their new Nook reader over 1,000,000 titles to pick from. The new Sony Daily Edition reader will permit users to borrow books on loan from participating lending libraries. Meanwhile, there will most likely be a standard e-book format adopted in 2010, which will let users lend e-books to friends and family or port them over to other readers if they wish.
Currently, a lot of industry analysts are eyeing the line up of new readers and attempting to identify which of them is the Kindle Killer. However, Amazon has been pretty smart so far and they won’t surrender their top position without a struggle. It took them less than eighteen months after the release of the first Kindle to launch the hugely improved Kindle 2. The DX followed just a few months later. Amazon almost certainly has some ideas for the further development of their e-book readers. Is it possible that the Kindle killer will actually be the Kindle 4 and that we could see this sometime next year?
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