It was the launch of the Kindle 2.0 in February of 2009 that really saw the market begin to grow rapidly. The Kindle quickly became Amazon’s number one selling item and, with a U.S. market share of 60%, was the clear market leader. The fact that virtually any new e-book reader which demonstrates any potential is instantly christened the “Kindle Killer” simply serves to underline the fact that the Kindle is not only the market leader, but the standard against which all other e-book readers will be judged.
The newest contender for The Kindle crown is Apple’s iPad – and it may well be the most credible contender to date. Is it the future of mobile computing or is it just a bigger version of the iPod Touch? At the end of the day it doesn’t matter much – it will almost certainly sell well for Apple.
Amazon responded to the announcement of the iPad by releasing an “app” which would let iPad users read Kindle books on their trendy new device. Based on that evidence, you would have to guess that Amazon aren’t overly concerned by the release of this latest, and possibly most credible to date, Kindle Killer.
In fact, considering the number of apps that Amazon have now released to allow Kindle books to be read without the use of a Kindle – there’s one available for the Mac, the PC, the Blackberry, the iPod – and now the iPad – you might be forgiven for thinking that, despite the huge success of the Kindle to date, Amazon may well be a somewhat reluctant manufacturer.
You might reasonably suppose, based upon their actions to date, that Amazon are more interested in selling Kindle books than the hardware to read them on. You might also think that Amazon might have a good idea where the big money will be made in the future e-book market. Perhaps this strategy is similar to selling cut price razors so as to cash in on the sales of razor blades? Time will tell but, when it comes to books – be they hardback, paperback or electronic – you may reasonably expect Amazon to continue to be a market leader as opposed to a follower.
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Learn more about the Amazon Kindle reader and have a look at the selection of Kindle accessories available to help you protect and customise your new reader.
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