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TechCrunch recently posted an interesting pair of rumors about Amazon. Sources tell them that Amazon is soon to launch its own Android app store (yes, that’s right, another one). It will come with a number of potentially onerous restrictions, a lot of them similar to the Apple app store and others reminiscent of their terms on e-books.
But what would an app store be without a device on which to run it? One of the same anonymous sources has told TechCrunch that Amazon is also hard at work on an Android tablet that it will release as an iPad competitor. I did report earlier this month on some rumors of a “color Kindle” that might actually be meant more for gaming or multimedia, and an Android tablet certainly would fit that bill.
Jeff Bezos has been dismissive of the idea of a color Kindle in the past, but this has been in the context of a strict e-book device. He has also been dismissive of the idea of trying to compete with Apple on Apple’s own turf, but viewpoints can change.
Certainly a color tablet would be a good way to present e-books with color illustrations, currently viewable only on the iPad or other color-capable devices. And it would be another string to Amazon’s bow in its bid to stay on top of the e-book market.
I don’t think Amazon needs to work very hard to keep its grip on the ebook market. Everyone else seems intent on cutting their own throats…
Scott Nicholson
Amazon got it right right from the beginning. Sell an ereader with wireless connectivity so people can shop and buy immediately whatever book caught their fancy. Selling books for $9.99 was genius. Impulse buying was what all bibliofiles had been looking for. Book buyers buy books simple as that. Amazon made it easy to do this. Kudos to them. All the others like Sony have much to learn. Reading Kindle books on devices like iPhones, etc. Icing on the cake. Now, I’d like to see publishers smarten up, get rid of geo-restrictions, bring book prices down — hey who needs to use the library if the book you want to read is not too expensive.
I agree Scott. Amazon have shown determination to drive forward in a way that others have failed to do. But we are still in the embryonic phase so there is plenty of time.
The one thing I wold be worried about if I were Amazon is becoming too diverse and unfocussed. They sell books and electronics and vids on their web site. Now they are in the eReader business and now they are into the Android app story business ? I see trouble ahead.
Hear hear! I second the price-reduction motion on eBooks as well as give a hearty amount of advice that Amazon stay out of the tablet business. Such a device would likely be another ‘Zune’, which–to quote Crig Fergusen–“zucks”.
iPad has such a head start and is so wildly popular that it would behoove Amazon to just make the popular Kindle better; stick with what you’re good at and keep your consumer base happy, a.k.a. lower prices on eBooks.
While I agree with the comments above, it was in stepping outside their core competence that Amazon brought us the Kindle.
While the Kindle and its infrastructure beats all other direct competitors hands down, the market will not stay still. The wider world of books and paper extends beyond the novel to education, information, business and training around the globe. One day, every student will carry one device to aid that learning and if Amazon waits for another company to develop such a beast, it will lose. Someday, a PAD will do it all. It will have all the advantages of Kindle and match those of the iPAD. It will take years to get there but if Amazon does not lay the groundwork now to ensure that they are in that future game it will be too late when everyone jumps ship.
Bezos’ history tells us that he is more likely to lead than follow. For what it’s worth, that’s what I think these moves (if true) add up to.
Amazon is a retailer first and foremost. Books (and ebooks) have *always* been just *one* of their high-visibility storefronts.
People tend to forget that Amazon’s arch-enemy (and role model) is WalMart. Borders and B&N are as much collateral damage as Tower Records was.
Amazon’s core competence is *selling*.
If Bezos sees a chance to make money, he’ll sell it.
Felix nails it: Amazon is a retailer. That is Amazon’s core competency, not technology. Amazon develops tech in service of retailing. If they are developing an Android pad, it won’t be to compete with the iPad, it will be to make buying from Amazon frictionless. Competing with the iPad would just be a side effect
This is no surprise, nor unlikely. There were rumors reported elsewhere that the Amazon unit that developed the Kindle was looking at other devices.
Amazon is the world’s largest catalog retailer. Forget the Kindle – it’s priming the pump. What Amazon really wants to do is sell you ebooks. They already had the infrastructure in place to display the catalog and take an order. Adding the ability to provide immediate fulfillment in the form of a digital download was a relatively trivial addition to their platform. eBooks have no warehousing or distribution costs. For Amazon, what’s not to like?
With the pump properly primed, Kindle apps for the PC, iPhone/iPad, and Android followed. Amazon doesn’t care what you read the ebooks on – only that you buy from them. That’s what their DRM is really about: lock the customer into Amazon as the vendor.
If you buy an actual Kindle, that’s fine, but it’s a fringe benefit. The ebooks are the point.
So why should Amazon stop at ebooks? There is lots of digital content out there Amazon could sell, and with increasingly pervasive broadband, delivery becomes possible. An Amazon branded media consumption device similar to the iPad is a logical expansion, as long as they can lock you into buying your content from them.
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Dennis