The recent growth in the popularity of e-books and e-book readers has been heavily influenced by Amazon. The Amazon Kindle reader first appeared on the market during November of 2006 and subsequent updates followed with the release of the Kindle 2.0 in February of 2009 and the launch of the third generation Kindle in August 2010. The summer of 2009 also saw the launch of the large format Kindle DX, which was also updated in August 2010.
A great many industry analysts suggested that, notwithstanding the influential role of Amazon in the development of the e-book reader market, the release of the Apple iPad would signal the demise of the Kindle reader. However, after the third generation launch – accompanied by some price cuts – Amazon sold out of Kindles (yet again). Demand seems to be holding up, and then some, for what is now Amazon’s best selling item.
Some people have accepted e-books quite readily. Others have an attachment to physical books. However, for most people the ability to carry large quantities of reading material around with them, coupled with the ease of operation offered by e-book readers, has proven to be a winning combination. Recent reductions in the selling price of e-book readers, possibly brought about by the iPad’s launch, have sweetened the deal sufficiently for many readers.
Amazon recently advised that they are currently selling more Kindle books than conventional hardback books. The lower sales price of e-books – which use no paper or ink and have no delivery fees to speak of – certainly helps. It can only be a matter of time before e-books start to sell more than paperbacks.
The ease with which e-books can be bought, and subsequently delivered, is another influencing factor. Readers can download a book to their Kindle in less than sixty seconds, at any time of the day or night, just as long as they can connect to Amazon’s Kindle store.
A possible area of concern for some customers was the worry that they would be “tied” to one particular e-book reader. This issue has been very effectively addressed by Amazon who have released a large number of free “apps” to allow Kindle books to be read on a wide range of different devices. At the moment, Kindle books can be read on the PC, the Mac, the iPhone, the iPad, the Blackberry smart phone and any device which runs the Android operating system. It’s actually a clever strategy by Amazon. Not only does it remove the fear of being tied to a particular brand of hardware but each new app acts as a separate retail outlet for Amazon’s huge selection of Kindle books. Currently, approximately 20% of all Kindle book sales are destined to be read on non-Kindle hardware.
All things considered, it looks like e-books are here to stay and that they will gradually account for a higher and higher percentage of book sales. It also looks as if Amazon are going to be very influential in the world of digital publishing for the foreseeable future.