Whilst it seems certain that the release of Apple’s iPad has had an impact upon the sales figures for Amazon’s Kindle reader, the internet retail giant doesn’t appear to be unduly worried. Following another price cut and an upgrade, the 6″ version of the Kindle has now sold out. It’s estimated that it will be weeks before any new readers start shipping. The larger Kindle DX model is still available at this time.
The latest Kindle release sees a 21% reduction in the physical size of the reader (whilst still maintaining the same display size), a reduction in weight of 15% and faster page turns. Memory is doubled and there is now enough space for 3,500 Kindle books on board. A new high contrast, low glare, e-ink technology display, coupled with a battery life of up to one month (with Wi-Fi turned off) means that the Kindle the is the ideal reading device, whether at home or whilst travelling.
Customers can now pick either graphite or white body colors and the standard unit comes with both Wi-Fi and free 3G connectivity. Users who don’t anticipate the need to use 3G connections can now opt for a cheaper, Wi-Fi only, version of theKindle.
Starting with the UK, Amazon will be selling the Kindle direct from some of its international sites. UK consumers can now buy their Kindle direct from Amazon UK rather than having it shipped from the USA. A dedicated UK Kindle book store will be launched, and no doubt similar arrangements can be anticipated for Germany and France at some point in future.
Amazon recently advised that Kindle books were outselling hard cover versions on their US website . In the last month, Amazon has sold 180 Kindle editions for every 100 conventional hard cover versions. They appear to be very confident that the future of reading is going to be digital – and these figures do seem to support that assertion. E-book readers are, on a commercial basis at any rate, a fairly recent development. On the basis of these figures, the reading public seems to have adopted them very rapidly.
Recently, e-book reader prices have fallen significantly. The latest Kindle with 3G and Wi-Fi has a price of $ 189, which is significantly less than the $ 359 February 2009 launch price of the Kindle 2.0. With a price tag of just $ 139, the Wi-Fi only option reader is getting into mp3 player territory. The launch of the iPad may have influenced, or at least hastened, these price cuts to some extent – but the hardware price was always going to come down, and there may still be further downward movement to come.
Although the sales price of e-book readers has fallen, the cost of the e-books themselves seems to have climbed a little. This gives Amazon a very real competitive advantage over many of its competitors who are mainly interested in hardware manufacture and marketing. The huge library of Kindle books is a great asset for Amazon – as is the fact that, thanks to Amazon’s policy of releasing free Kindle “apps”, it’s possible to read (and buy) Kindle books on a wide range of different devices. As the emerging e-book market matures and more emphasis is placed on e-books rather than the hardware to read them on, Amazon look very well placed to be the dominant player in the new digital publishing world.