It’s not swo long since Amazon advised that they were selling more Kindle books than hardback editions. Now it seems that Kindle book sales have overtaken paperback sales as well. It seems to be just a matter of time before Kindle books are selling more than hardbacks and paperbacks combined.
It has a certain air of inevitability when you think about it. Anyone who is prepared to pay over $ 100 for an e-book reader is probably going to be the type of person who reads a good number of books, surely? Of course, there will always be some book lovers who prefer reading a traditional printed book – but, over the piece, we do appear to be heading towards a scenario where e-books assume increasingly more importance in the publishing world.
There are plenty of Kindle books available for buyers to choose from. Right now there are more than 800,000 Kindle books to choose from on the Amazon website. This number is increasing daily – and there are a further 1.8 million out of copyright books which are available as free downloads. These include some classic works by authors such as Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Homer, Tacitus and many more.
Amazon has also released a variety of free apps which allow Kindle books to be read without the use of a Kindle reader. These exist for the PC, the Mac, the Apple iPad, the iPod Touch, the Blackberry smart phone and any device which runs Android. An app for the HP tablet computer is believed to be imminent. What this means is that users needn’t worry about their Kindle becoming obsolete. Each app also serves as an additional retail outlet for Amazon.
Amazon are estimated to enjoy around about a 90% share of the current e-book market. Obviously that can’t continue, and industry analysts are forecasting an approximately equal three way split between Amazon, Google and Apple by 2015. However, those are the same analysts who forecast that the launch of the Apple iPad would be the death of the Kindle, and they got that wrong didn’t they?
In point of fact, the new third generation Kindle reader is selling faster than ever. It was Amazon’s best selling product (again) during the 2010 festive sales season, and the Kindle has now been Amazon’s best selling item for eighteen months. 2011 sales forecasts have been increased from 5 million Kindles to 8 million, based upon recent sales returns. Some rationalisation of the market seems probable in the future, but there’s no evidence that the dominance of the Kindle is going to reduce in the short to medium term.
Learn all about the Kindle 3 for yourself. It’s the future of reading – you can even play games on the Amazon Kindle – some games are even free!
March 1st, 2011
Posted by
Roderic Senegalle |
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Now that the dust from the Christmas sales season has died down a little, it seems obvious that it has been another massively successful year for the Amazon Kindle ebook reader. The latest Kindle 3, which launched at the end of August 2010 has pretty much carried on where the Kindle 2.0 left off and held it’s position as Amazon’s top selling product.
During the 2010 Christmas sales period (Nov 14 to Dec 19) it was the top selling item on Amazon’s site. The 8GB iPod Touch was in second place.
Amazon, as usual, are not confirming any specific numbers. However, industry analysts have increased their prediction for 2011 Kindle sales from 5 million units to 8 million. Amazon also has an astonishing 90% share of the current ebook market.
It’s the combined effect of the Kindle reader and the huge selection of Kindle books which seems to give Amazon the edge. Amazon currently has more than 800,000 Kindle books on sale. In addition to those paid titles there are a further.8 million out of copyright titles – including classics by the likes of Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, Virgil, Sir Arthur Conan doyle and Emily Bronte – which are all available as free downloads. You can economise and expand your library at the same time.
Amazon has, quite cleverly, made many free Kindle “apps” available. These allow users to read Kindle books on other portable electronic devices, so there’s no need to worry about losing your ebook library should you decide to change hardware. At the moment, Kindle apps exist for the Windows PC, the Mac computer, the Apple iPad, the iPhone, the Blackberry smart phone and any device running the Android operating system. Of course, each of these apps can also be considered to be an effective route to market for Kindle books.
Whatever you may think regarding the comparison between ebook readers and “real” books, it seems fairly clear that the Amazon Kindle is the top ebook reader by a long way. The fact that the only credible competition to the Kindle comes in the form of the Apple iPad, a high spec tablet computer which costs more than three times the price of the Kindle, speaks volumes.
Analysts are predicting that Amazon’s share of the ebook market will drop off in the coming years. However, considering that their current market share is 90%, that is scarcely a damning indictment. It’s hard to see how a level as high as that could be maintained in perpetuity. Predictions are for a roughly equal three way split, carved up between Amazon, Google and Apple, by around about 2015. Of course, based upon current growth, Amazon will have a smaller percentage of a very much larger market.
At the moment, there is little to suggest that the dominance of the Kindle is reducing. The potentially increased competition following the launch of the iPad doesn’t seem to have knocked Amazon of its stride. As the market develops and matures, some degree of rationalisation seems inevitable – but, for the time being at least, Amazon look set to capitalise on their dominant position and will most likely continue to be one of the key players in the ebook market for a long time to come.
Find out more about the Kindle 3 for yourself. It’s the future of reading – you can even play games on the Amazon Kindle – some games are even free!
February 2nd, 2011
Posted by
Orlando Robinson |
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More and more people are reading ebooks these days, and these people need something to read them on. The Amazon Kindle reader was one of the first ebook readers to really take off, and is popular because it allows people to carry around their favorite novels everywhere.
“Kindle” is actually a type of software formatting, which was originally only available on the ebook readers carrying the name. This software can be downloaded to personal computers, Windows and Android phones, now, too. This lets people buy and read ebooks from Amazon on their laptops, desktops, or smartphones, without having to buy the reader itself.
The device itself comes in two different formats, the original and the DX. The DX is larger than the original, and though somewhat more cumbersome, is sold as a better device for reading newspapers, textbooks, and other large books and printed materials. None of the textbooks that can be downloaded in the Kindle format preserve the manufacturer’s page numbers, however, which can be a problem when quoting for scholastic purposes.
Ebook readers are popular because no one likes reading on the standard computer screen. Smartphones would have taken over completely if people just wanted portable books, but since ebook readers have a more comfortable screen for reading, they are still selling. Ebook readers feature a gray-scale screen that isn’t as bright as a traditional computer screen, and is improved upon between every generation of readers.
Amazon is on the third generation of Kindles at the moment, and have publicly stated that there have been major improvements to the screen during the latest iteration of the product. This third version is also the first one to be able to access wifi networks, which allows downloads of ebooks anywhere with a wireless network.
As well as wifi, the more expensive variety of version 3 has 3G cell phone network access, to allow for downloads from anywhere with cell phone reception. The single variety of version 2 also had this capability, and perhaps had it better. Consumers have complained about the diminished quality of the 3G reception between Kindles 2 and 3.
For people who like to read, the ability to take their favorite novels everywhere with them is quite attractive, and the Amazon Kindle reader can hold up to 1500 books or more. But the problem with any ebook reader is that the books must all be bought online from a bookstore, and thus there are no used or library copies to be had. This can increase the price tremendously, which is a serious disadvantage for the product.
Learn more about the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.
January 5th, 2011
Posted by
Keith Redmann |
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It seems like with every technological leap forward people start to yell about the death of something traditional. These proclamations are premature for sure and only serve to show how much we don’t understand about the demands of our society. The publishing industry has been targeted for some time and there is some truth to the sentiment that it has to change. The old rules simply do not apply and people do not read as much as they used to and frankly there are too many writers on the market. The Amazon Kindle Reader was unveiled to great fanfare, but is it really that great?
Part of the issue with previous electronic reading devices, or e-readers, was the glare of the screen. Many people have issues with starting at computer screens for extended lengths of time, with accompanying eye and headaches being some of the most common complaints.
The technology within the Kindle has revolutionized this issue through the invention of electronic ink. Basically it is a take off of the technology that exists in a child’s etch a sketch and doesn’t impart any strain on the person reading. Even though it is no longer the only reader on the market, it does remain one of the best.
For those who travel or even have long commutes in the morning and want something to read, lugging along a book or magazine can be a real pain. Part of this is, especially for those who travel, the low attention span that many of us have and we want more than one book with us in case we get board.
If you are packing for a long trip the last thing you want to do is take up additional space with books. The Kindle is also great because of the sheer amount of books available for purchase and this is increasing every day! Most new releases are now available on the Kindles as well for a lower price.
There is a nice added bonus of free classics so that you can finally get around to reading the books you never cared about in high school without paying anything for them. You can also read excerpts of some books that you are iffy on in purchasing so that this slim and light reader is like literally having an entire bookstore at your disposal. Most people just don’t have time to get to bookstores and now they don’t have to.
But what about getting these books, does it take forever? Not at all! The download speed for one entire novel is under one minute. Also, copies of what you purchase are stored within your Amazon account so that if something happens to your reader you don’t lose all of your books.
If you compare the price that you pay for six books against the Kindle you’ll realize that there is no reason to keep throwing your money away. Books will most likely never really go out of style, but digital books are at the forefront of the new publishing frontier.
Check out the Kindle 3 for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.
December 30th, 2010
Posted by
Henry James Bookman |
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It seems highly probable that, when the sales returns are tallied up at the end of the 2010 festive season, it will prove to have been another record breaking year for Amazon’s flagship e-book reader. Despite numerous predictions of the Kindle’s imminent demise as a result of the release of Apple’s iPad, Amazon’s category leading ebook reader just seems to go from strength to strength.
Even without the introduction of a color screen, the launch of the Kindle 3 in the autumn of 2010 opened the gap between the Kindle and the chasing pack even further. In addition to a host of technical upgrades, including increased memory (enough for up to 3,500 titles), a better contrast display and a smaller and lighter case, Amazon introduced an entry level WiFi only model.
Priced at just $ 139, the base model Kindle is less than a third of the cost of the entry level iPad. The WiFi plus 3G model is available for $ 189 – still well below the iPad price level. The fact that there are no monthly download fees associated with the Kindle remains another very big selling point of course.
Another key feature of the Kindle has always been the huge selection of Kindle books available for download from the Amazon website. At this time, there are more than 750,000 Kindle books available on Amazon’s Kindle store. In addition to the paid Kindle books, there are currently a further 1.8 million out of copyright titles – including many classics – which are available for free download.
One of the things that many prospective e-book reader buyers seem to fret over is that they will be “tied” to their reader. They feel that having bought a lot of e-books in a particular format, they will be unable to transfer their books should they wish to switch to another e-book reader later.
This issue has been dealt with very well by Amazon who have made a host of free apps available to enable readers to enjoy Kindle books on a variety of different devices. Currently, there are free Kindle apps for the PC, the Mac, the iPad, the iPhone, the Blackberry smart phone, the Windows phone and any device which uses the Android operating system. It’s a clever strategy on Amazon’s part. Not only does it overcome the concerns regarding the transfer of books, but each of these apps effectively acts as another retail outlet for Kindle books. It’s estimated that approximately 20% of Kindle book sales are made using non-Kindle hardware. That percentage will probably continue to grow in future.
As improbable as it may have appeared at some points throughout the year, 2010 has seen the Kindle reinforce its market dominance even further. The very fact that the Kindle’s only serious competition comes in the form of a tablet computer which is more than three times the price of the Amazon reader should tell a story in itself. The Kindle looks like maintaining its dominant position in the e-book market into 2011 and beyond.
Learn more about the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.
December 21st, 2010
Posted by
Kenneth Reid |
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When you’re looking for gift ideas – for Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries or any other special occasion, the Amazon website is the ideal place to do a little research. They are definitely the largest, and probably the best known, online retailer in the world after all. With online retailers like Amazon, it’s very easy to see what is selling well. You can be certain that any product in the Amazon top sellers list is very popular indeed. These lists can serve as a great source of gift ideas.
You can be sure that demand for the best selling item on Amazon’s website is huge. In fact, you can be sure that it is in very high demand. Amazon’s Kindle reader has been the most wished for, most gifted and number one selling item on their website since 2009. Many industry analysts forecast that the Kindle would fade into obscurity following the release of Apple’s iPad – but, if anything, it seems to be more popular than ever.
The release of the improved Kindle 3 in August of 2010 simply underlined Amazon’s dominant position in the ebook reader market. The new third generation Kindle has a number of specification enhancements – including increased memory (it can now store up to 3,500 books), an improved, high contrast e-ink technology display and a smaller and lighter casing.
Amazon also unveiled a new entry level Kindle which had WiFi only connectivity – ideal for those who don’t anticipate the need for connecting outwith a WiFi zone – priced at just $ 139. The price of the WiFi plus 3G model was also cut to just $ 189. Both of these options are priced considerably below even the entry level iPad, and that was clearly an influential factor in ensuring that the third generation reader became the fastest selling version of the Kindle to date.
The fact that there are no monthly download or connection fees associated with the Kindle is another appealing aspect of the Amazon price model. Amazon is known for being tight lipped as far as actual sales figures go – but a company spokesman did advise that sales of the Kindle 3 were in the “millions”.
The new lower price levels are making e-book readers more attractive to prospective customers. Bearing in mic that the price of e-books is generally lower than that of traditional printed books, and also that there are a lot of out of copyright books available as free downloads, it’s very possible that many users could recover the cost of their reader in a relatively short time.
It may very well be that 2010 will be remembered as the year that e-book readers went mainstream. Lower price levels, enhanced functionality and an ever growing selection of books to choose from will make e-book readers in general, and the Kindle in particular, a popular gift choice over the 2010 festive season.
Find out more about the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.
December 19th, 2010
Posted by
Keith Redmann |
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The festive season is an important time for any retailer. Somewhere between 30 and 40% of yearly sales can be made in the weeks running up to Christmas. From Amazon’s perspective, the 2009 festive season was a very important period for various reasons over and above the annual sales surge.
Amazon’s Kindle 2.0 e-book reader, released in February of 2009, and which had already proven to be a very successful product for Amazon, became the online retail giant’s best selling, most gifted and most wished for product ever. It has been Amazon’s best selling item since then.
On Christmas day of 2009, Amazon sold more Kindle books than physical books for the first time ever. No doubt this would have been heavily influenced by those lucky people who found a Kindle under their Christmas trees testing out their new readers by logging on and downloading a Kindle book or two. A fair number of these would almost certainly have been free Kindle books (there are 1.8 million of these available to download).
Even so, it was still a major achievement for Amazon and a sign of things to come. Currently, Amazon regularly sells more Kindle books than hardcover books – by a factor of 180 to 100. It seems probable that it will only be a matter of time before Kindle books are outselling paperbacks as well.
In the autumn of 2010, Amazon revealed their updated Kindle 3 reader. There were a variety of technical improvements – including extra memory (enough space for 3,500 Kindle books), an improved e-ink technology screen with better contrast and a smaller and lighter casing. Amazon also introduced a new, entry level Wi-Fi only reader – priced at just $ 139. The 3G plus Wi-Fi model sells for $ 189 – which is still a lot less than the original $359 ticket price of the Kindle 2.0.
With a $ 139 entry level price the Kindle is pretty close to being an impulse buy for many. You could pay quite a bit more for something such as a mobile phone or a mid level mp3 player!
In spite of the release of the iPad from Apple – touted by many as the device which would finally end the Kindle’s dominance – the Kindle 3 rapidly became the fastest selling Kindle thus far. Amazon, almost inevitably, sold out of their readers and customers faced a wait – of up to five weeks at one point – before their reader could be delivered.
The Kindle had already established itself as the market leading e-book reader. The upgraded Kindle 3 simply increased the gap between the Kindle and the chasing pack. The fact that the Kindle’s only genuinely credible competitor is a versatile tablet computer which costs over three times the price of the Kindle tells a story in itself.
Amazon won’t be counting their chickens before they’re hatched – but they must surely be expecting their new, improved Kindle to deliver another set of record breaking sales returns this Christmas. It will be interesting to see if (when) Kindle stocks run out once again in the run up to Christmas. Customers are limited to a maximum of three Kindles each right now – a clear indication of Amazon’s confidence in their number one reader. It looks like the Kindle is going to be a big hit for Amazon over the Christmas 2010 season once more.
Find out more about the Kindle 3 for yourself. It’s the future of reading – you can even play games on the Amazon Kindle – some games are even free!
December 3rd, 2010
Posted by
Edward Boon |
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E-book readers and e-books are a fairly recent, but popular, innovation. The public seems to have accepted them very quickly. A good deal of the credit for that must surely go to the Amazon Kindle reader – in particular the Kindle 2.0 which first appeared on the market in February of 2009. The third generation Kindle was unveiled in August of 2010 and, despite prophecies of doom for the Kindle following the release of the Apple iPad, is selling faster than ever. There can’t be much doubt that it was the Kindle 2.0 that really helped e-books to become so popular so fast.
Equally important was the large selection of Kindle books on offer. Amazon has always been well in front of the following pack when it comes to the number of titles available. At the moment they have over 750,000 Kindle books available on their website – and those are just the paid titles. There are a further 1.8 million titles which are out of copyright and are now available for download free of charge.
However, although the public seems to have accepted e-books, it’s debatable if the same can be said for many of the big publishing firms. E-books have completely revised the long established publishing cycle. It’s not just that e-books are cheaper than printed books (since they consume no paper, ink or bindings) – there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be on sale simultaneously with the hardback edition. No need to wait for the paperback, the e-book version is immediately available from day one.
Clearly, the availability of a cheaper version alongside the hardback is something which could have an impact upon the sales of hardbacks. At the moment, Amazon are shipping 180 e-books for every 100 hardbacks that they sell. This seems to have created quite a stir for many of the major publishing houses. They have already had several run ins with Amazon over the pricing of e-books.
Publishers like Harper Collins, Penguin and Hachette recently changed to the “agency model” for their e-books. In plain English – it’s the publisher who sets the sales price, not the retailer (Amazon). This has resulted in elevated prices for some e-books – with some of them actually costing more than the print version.
Kindle owners rapidly retaliated by awarding “one star” reviews to books where they felt that the Kindle book price was excessively high. Some fairly critical comments were left on Amazon’s website – aimed at the publishers for the most part – some went so far as to suggest that potential customers boycott both the Kindle and the hardback versions until prices are set at more reasonable levels. There have already been some price reductions.
Adopting such a profit oriented approach seems to be a little short sighted on the part of the publishers. After all, it seems reasonable to suppose that e-book readers owners read a fair number of books. If you only read a book a month then you would hardly invest in an e-book reader would you? In other words, e-book reader users are the major publisher’s target audience.
It also seems obvious that e-books should cost less than printed books. Apart from the lack of paper, ink and bindings, they have no delivery fees associated with them. They are also – even making allowances for the materials used in the e-book readers themselves – more environmentally friendly. It seems probable that e-book reader owners would not only be able to work this out for themselves but would, quite naturally, anticipate that the price would reflect this fact.
It could be that the publisher’s tactics will prove successful in the short term – however, they need to take care not to antagonise some of their best customers. Artificial price hikes are likely to alienate the buying public and, after a series of one star reviews and public calls for buying boycotts, authors would probably also be somewhat unhappy. The e-book revolution has just as much to offer publishers as it does the public. Publishers will also have reduced expenses when publishing, marketing and selling e-book versions – and customers will certainly expect the selling price of e-books to reflect these lower costs. Publishers who adopt e-books, in just the same way that the reading public has, will enjoy success in future. If, on the other hand, their drive towards short term profits means that they do not fully capitalise on the new possibilities offered by this new medium, both their readers and their authors will likely reject them.
Check out the Amazon Kindle reader for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.
November 15th, 2010
Posted by
Nichola Williams |
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A recent Amazon announcement confirmed that Kindle reader owners will soon have the ability to lend Kindle books to family and friends. The exact date is, as yet, unconfirmed – but it will be sometime this year.
It’s a move which will make it even easier for e-book readers and e-books to be adopted. The public seems to have adopted e-books very rapidly. According to Amazon, sales of e-books are now greater than the sales of traditional hardback books – by a factor of 180 to 100. It can only be a matter of time before e-book sales outstrip paperback sales.
The new Amazon lending scheme will allow Kindle books to be lent for a fortnight at a time. During the period of the loan, the borrower will be able to access the book just as if they had bought it. The original purchaser won’t be able to access the book for the duration of the loan period. Precisely the same as lending a traditional book to someone in point of fact.
Amazon has released a number of free Kindle apps which allow Kindle books to be read on other devices. These exist for the Windows PC, the Apple Mac, the iPhone, the iPad, any device which runs the Android operating system and the Blackberry smart phone. At first glance it may appear a little odd that Amazon has gone out of its way to make their best selling Kindle reader redundant in this way. Currently, 20% of all Kindle book sales are made using non-Kindle devices. As more and more gadgets adopt the Android system, this percentage is likely to grow.
These free Kindle apps have, up until now, allowed only Kindle books to be read. Amazon will now make both newspapers and magazines available using Kindle apps. Again, the release date is yet to be confirmed – but Amazon has advised that they plan to start with the Apple devices and follow up with the Android devices and then the desktop applications in due course.
These changes may seem relatively minor. However, they bring e-books closely into line with the functionality of printed books, which could be psychologically important for anyone making a buying decision. Kindle readers can now do everything with an e-book that they would with a printed book – apart from marking their place with a dog-ear that is. It makes it easier for even the most traditional book lover to make the switch to e-books.
Learn more about the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.
November 13th, 2010
Posted by
Anthony Kilgower |
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It’s now been three years since Amazon released their original Kindle reader. Notwithstanding the huge influence of the Kindle, it’s worth recalling that it wasn’t the first ebook reader to be launched. However, ebooks are now becoming accepted by the public – mainly due to the influence of the Kindle. Whether traditional printed books could eventually become obsolete or not is debatable – but it looks as if ebooks are here to stay.
However, many people are getting themselves an ebook reader. The recent ebook reader price cuts from Sony, Amazon and Barnes and Noble has made ebook readers a much more affordable option for a lot of consumers. The Kindle may well be the market leader, but there are other readers to choose from. So what should you look for if you’re considering buying your first ebook reader?
One of the most important factors that you need to consider is the quality of the display. Special e-ink technology displays are used in most ebook readers. This gives a reading experience that is surprisingly similar to reading text printed on paper. It’s considerably easier on your eyes than reading on a back-lit computer screen. It is also easy to read in direct sunlight or even glare from fluorescent lighting. A further advantage of e-ink technology displays is that they use power only when “turning the page” – so battery life is extended.
Choosing the largest display available sounds like a good idea. Obviously readers with larger screens have a higher ticket price than those with smaller displays. They also weigh more and are physically larger. This will have implications on how portable the device is. That may not represent a problem for you if it’s your intent to read mainly at home. Even so, a bigger reader will be more difficult to operate with one hand – something which most users will wish to do.
One of the key factors in the success of the Kindle was its ability to browse for, buy and download books in less than sixty seconds from practically anywhere. Nevertheless, both Amazon and Barnes and Noble have now launched Wi-Fi only entry level models of their readers. These cost a little less than the 3G readers and could be a good option for anyone who doesn’t foresee the need to download books without using a computer or connecting via a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Obviously there’s little point in having an ebook reader unless there’s a good selection of books to read on it. At the moment there is no standard format for ebooks. Google uses the ePub format – but Kindle books are in a format which is proprietary to the Kindle. However, Amazon has made free apps – which allow users to read Kindle books on a variety of different devices (e.g. the Windows PC, the Apple Mac, the iPhone, the iPad) – freely available.
Ebook prices can be very different on different readers. If you read a book a week, then choosing the right reader could save you enough money on ebooks to make the reader self financing in a matter of months. Before you decide which reader to go for, it’s well worth checking.
Learn more about the Amazon Kindle reader for yourself and have a look at the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.
November 7th, 2010
Posted by
Alison Kinmuir |
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