Tech isn’t necessarily going to stand still for Amazon and its Kindle—that’s the point we made earlier this week.
But what about the number of books available for the Kindle vs. a big rival, the Sony Reader?
Some just-out statistics suggest that Sony has more of a chance on the content front than many would think.
The number of books in the Sony eBook store is expected to jump from 57,000 to 100,000 by the end of the year, according to a Sony spokesperson quoted by MSNBC. This compares to the 200,000 books, blogs and other items the Kindle Store now offers. A gap still exists, but think what Sony could do via its alliances withe indie stores that will be able to tap into the wireless downloading network that it’s planning.
If readers needn’t dart from store to store…
The key could be some kind of Amazon-style aggregation and even account integration, so that people don’t have to dart from store to store.
Remember, Amazon smartly lets rivals, everyone from Tiger Direct to mom-and-pop e-stores, offer merchandise through its network for nonKindle items. Yes, that’s what the site as a whole has become: a network, not just a standalone effort. Remember the old slogan. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. If Barack Obama can appoint Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, maybe Sony can think likewise in an e-book context—beyond its laudable plans for many stores to be able to participate in the wireless download network. What a contrast this could be to the Amazon-only Kindle store.
Backing off from the proprietary approach
I know. The Sony corporate strategist may want the company to stand apart, and in fact the Sony eBook store for now is sticking to the BBeB format rather than using ePub, DRMed or not. But Sony has surprised us with progressive changes before, and I wouldn’t write off the possibility of its offering ePub in its own store.
This would be a good way to further differentiate Sony from Amazon’s proprietary approach with the Kindle and Mobi formats (see Chris Meadows’ must-read post raising the possibility that Amazon wouldn’t let Mobi go on the iPhone this summer). Sony needs to communicate that people can buy and eternally enjoy a wide range of content on its Readers. That means making such a vision a genuine reality.
Alliance concept mixed with dropping of DRM
Blend the alliance concept with the dropping of DRM—which some of Sony’s indie allies will be inclined to do in cases when publishers allow—-and the Sony Readers could be a far more attractive choice than the Kindle for people looking for ownable books from a wide variety of sources.
Reminder to publishers: I’m no more interest in seeing a Sony e-book monopoly than an Amazon one. Don’t forget other alternatives such as Stanza, eReader and other iPhone apps.
