Since its launch in November 2007, the Kindle electronic book reader has been a great product for Amazon. Amazon's strong association with both books and electronics was a marriage made in heaven and the Kindle, after an upgrade to Kindle 2.0 in February of 2009 followed by the introduction of the large display Kindle DX model in the summer of the same year, went on to become Amazon's top selling product.
Over the 2009 festive season, the Kindle reader became the most gifted Amazon item ever - and, on Christmas day 2009, the number of Kindle book downloads was greater than the number of physical books sold for the first time ever. This was more than likely due to people who were lucky enough to find a Kindle under the tree experimenting with their new readers - and many of the books downloaded would have been free - but it was still a landmark event for both Amazon and the Kindle.
Amazon did seem to be a slightly reluctant manufacturer on occasions however. They went out of their way to make sure that Kindle books could be read without a Kindle reader. At the moment, Amazon has released free Kindle "Apps" for a wide variety of different devices - many of which would be considered to be the Kindle's competitors. These include the PC, the Apple Mac, the iPod Touch, the iPhone, the iPad, the Blackberry smart phone and any device running Android. Amazon looked to be their own competition at times.
However, the method in Amazon's madness became clear after the release of the Apple iPad. This saw the price of e-book readers fall as many consumers rushed to buy Apple's new device which, amongst its many functions, was suitable for use as an e-book reader. However, although the price of e-book reader hardware was falling, the average price of the e-books to read on these devices was rising.
The main reason behind this was the deal which Apple had negotiated with the big publishing houses prior to the iPad's launch. This allowed publishers to fix the price for the e-book versions of their publications at whatever level they wished - under the condition that the e-book wouldn't be sold at a lower price for use with any other reader - the Kindle for example. Amazon's policy of pricing e-books at $ 9.99 or less was pretty well destroyed overnight - it was starting to look as if the iPad wasn't just a "Kindle Killer" but that it was going to put paid to Amazon's plans for Kindle books as well.
However, upon closer examination, Amazon's release of Kindle Apps for so many different devices starts to make a lot of sense. Each App is actually an outlet for Kindle books - and with a higher average e-book price, Amazon will be able to sell Kindles for less but still make money over the lifetime of the reader by selling their Kindle books at higher prices. Even if the iPad were to totally decimate Kindle sales - an unlikely event - Kindle books will keep selling. And, should some other mobile computer, smart phone or reader come along then there will no doubt be "an app for that" as well.
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