Amazon Kindle May Be Out Of Step With New Industry Format
After a long period of almost total domination by Amazon, it seems as if the e-book marketplace is set to have some fierce competition. We may even see even the replacement of the Amazon Kindle reader as the market leader.
In terms of the e-book reader devices themselves, a number of manufacturers are preparing to launch new hardware – some before the end of the year, some early in 2010. Sony recently confirmed the launch of three new readers. Probably the most significant of these is the Sony Daily Edition reader, which will launch in December 2009, has touch screen functionality, wireless 3g connectivity and will allow users to download e-books “on loan” from their local lending library.
Other manufacturers, including Plastic Logic and Apple, will have new readers on offer in the near future.
However, as important as the technical specification of the various reader devices is likely to be, it may not be the deciding factor. Right now, the ability to select an e-book from Amazon’s enormous range of titles (more than 300,000 and ever expanding) is a huge selling point for them. There are over 300,000 e-books available for the Kindle on the Amazon website. The drawback is that you need to purchase all your e-books from Amazon. And, should you subsequently decide to switch to a different type of reader, then currently you cannot transfer your e-books to it. Perhaps this may be available in future, but right now it’s very much a case of Kindle reader, Kindle e-books. In other words – it’s a closed system.
Other manufacturers seem to be moving towards a common e-book format – called ePub, which is different to that used by Amazon. This would give users the freedom to transfer books between different reading devices. It would also let them buy and download books from a wide selection of different retailers. In other words, it would give them more freedom of choice.
If this move goes ahead, and it seems likely that it will, then it’s not out of the question that what is currently a feather in Amazon’s cap, their huge collection of Kindle books, may become a liability. Of course, it would not be beyond the ability of Amazon to modify the situation by making their Kindle titles compatible with whatever format is eventually adopted by the industry either by providing a translation facility or simply by adopting the new standard.
Whether or not Amazon are able to retain their current dominant position, it looks very much as if the e-book market is going to have some strong competition in future and that industry standards will be put in place sooner rather than later. All of this is good news for consumers.