Amazon Squares Up To Apple: Kindle Vs Ipad
It had to happen. Apple’s foray into the eBook market with its iPad had to get a reaction from Amazon, but nobody quite expected the severity of this reaction. Amazon has responded amazingly strongly and in several different ways.
1. Kindle Apps
Prior to the iPad launch, Amazon made the announcement of the opening of an applications store, and an invitation for developers to come up with apps in the same way that they did for the iPhone and the iPad. This was an apparent attempt to offer the Kindle as a genuine competitor to the iPad.
Without some other use of the Kindle other than as a dedicated e-reader, Amazon knew that it was destined to suffer a knock-out blow from Apple. It is not easy to fight Apple’s commercial and financial resources, but it can be done given the right strategy. One tactic of that strategy is to emulate what Apple has achieved in the versatility of their products, and by developing applications for the Kindle, Amazon is doing that: and taking the first step on the road to genuine multimedia capability for the Kindle.
This might conceivably be the beginning of a larger war between the two giants, involving not only eBooks, but also music, movies and all the other miscellaneous applications that have come to be associate with the iPhone and, no doubt, the iPad.
2. DRM Drop-Out
Amazon made DRM optional for publishers. With iBooks locked by FairPlay, Amazon’s DRM opt-out means that users can port their eBooks to other e-readers. DRM is now optional for publishers, and while that is not a great advance for the majority of Kindle owners, it is for the smaller publishers who will now have more of an incentive to market the Kindle. It is one more in the eye for Apple, and another small advantage that Amazon is trying to gain over the iPad. According to the article “An Introduction to Popular E-book File Formats“, with its own Digital Rights Management structure AZW format protects the e-book publishers and authors from possible piracy and is loosely based on Mobipocket’s popular MOBI file format (Digital Book Readers).
3. Price Maintenance
Amazon took steps to protect the low prices of Kindle eBooks by maintaining a maximum price of $9.99 on all its publications. It is the only e-reader that does not allow publishers to apply higher pricing, and it responded to Macmillan’s pressure by removing all that publishers products from its virtual library. Yes, Amazon has stated that these will be reinstated, but that has yet to happen, and Macmillan meantime has been subject to insults from Amazon on public forums.
This move was likely made in response to criticism that eBooks are too expensive in relation to their production costs and overheads. By sustaining a price ceiling of $9.99, Amazons maintains a level of competitiveness that other e-readers will find it hard to match, including Apple.
4. Touchco Acquisition
Each of the above three will have an influence on the outcome of the bout between Amazon and Apple, but much more significant is Amazon’s acquisition of Touchco, the e-paper and touchscreen technology firm. This appears to be Amazon’s ace in the hole, and the acquisition must have come as shock and a blow to Apple.
Touchco had been working on a true multi-touch screen to work with e-paper that enables unlimited simultaneous touches to be detected. Combined with the Mirasol multi-color technology on e-paper, this offers Amazon the ability to create a multi-touch color tablet device that could very easily not only compete with the iPad, but also exceed its technological capability. It is definitely a big one in Apple’s eye, and the gloves are definitely off now.
The acquisition took place very secretively and quietly, and nobody had an inclination of what was going on. It is hard to believe that Apple was unaware of it, but it sure seems that way. Round 1 might have been Apple’s, but Amazon has certainly won rounds 2, 3 and 4, although knowing Apple’s resilience and resources, certainly not with knockout blows.
The Touchco technology might have been used with e-paper to develop cell phones, music players and a whole host of possible applications, but that is now lost in Amazon’s fight with Apple for the e-reader market. Sometimes it is time for corporations to focus on their core business, because this type of infighting almost invariably ends up with no winners and the public the losers.
However, what can we look for in the near future? Likely an expansion of the Kindle, or a variant, as an iPad competitor, and almost certainly the demise of the clunky E Ink and the development of a sleeker display medium. Watch this space and get ready for round 5, because Apple will certainly not take this lying down!
About the Author
Marco Gustafsson is author of articles about ebook readers, e-inc technology and e-books. For more information visit Digital Book Readers – eBook readers guide with reviews and secrets to choose a good portable e-Reader.
windows xp on a imac g3(400mhz) (emulator)- very fast
|
|
Printer Emulator Cable* $167.28 Printer Emulator Cable* |
|
|
TI SMARTVIEW EMULATOR SOFTWARE FOR THE $164.99 TI SMARTVIEW EMULATOR SOFTWARE FOR THE |
|
|
XGA EDID EMULATOR $146.99 XGA EDID EMULATOR |
|
|
FX9860G Emulator for PC $56.99 FX9860G Emulator for PC |
|
|
Emulator II $1.99 EMULATOR II: Les Femmes Désespérées is the anticipated sequel to EMULATOR. DCI Matt East investigates the death of a Nobel Prize Nominee and stumbles into one relationship, three wives and a widow. |
|
|
Aten PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse Emulator $57.18 Aten PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse Emulator |
|
|
PWR CORD IBOOK-APPLE $31.99 PWR CORD IBOOK-APPLE |
|
|
V7 iBook Notebook Battery $90.24 V7 iBook Notebook Battery |
|
|
PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse Emulator $119.99 The PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse Emulator prevents computer lockup due to keyboard signal loss with some KVM switches not equipped with an emulation function |
|
|
Viking / Viking Two-Way Line Emulator / DLE-200B $133.4 Viking – Viking Two-Way Line Emulator – DLE-200B |
|
|
Aten / Aten PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse Emulator / CV100KM $68.42 Aten – Aten PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse Emulator – CV100KM |
|
|
Viking Two-Way Line Emulator DLE200B $152.19 Viking Two-Way Line Emulator DLE200B |
|
|
Ibook for Dummies $10.99 ISBN-13: 9780764506475 ISBN-10: 0764506471 Title: Ibook for Dummies. Author: . |
|
|
Apple 661-2692 IBOOK 14.1IN Display $628.43 IBOOK 14.1IN Display |
|
|
Apple 922-6623 IBOOK DC-In Cable $26.93 IBOOK DC-In Cable |
|
|
Apple 922-5022 IBOOK MICROPHONE Cable $26.93 IBOOK MICROPHONE Cable |
|
|
PS/2 Keyboard Mouse Emulator – Keyboard/mouse emulator $97 Tripp Lites PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse Emulator solves issues with emulation between KVM switches and Blade Servers with built-in KVM Management when used in a mixed server environment such as Blades 1U Servers Tower servers etc. It also prevents … |
|
|
Raritan Keyboard/Mouse Emulator $83.99 Data Transfer Cable APKME www.raritan.com 2 Year Limited 3.20 oz Raritan Computer Keyboard/Mouse Emulator Raritan 2 x 6-pin mini-DIN (PS/2) Male 2 x 6-pin mini-DIN (PS/2) Female Keyboard |
|
|
Apple iBook 12 inch (Standard) $39.99 Apple iBook 12 inch (Standard) |
|
|
Apple iBook 14 inch (Standard) $39.99 Apple iBook 14 inch (Standard) |
|
|
Apple iBook 128MB Memory Upgrade $29.99 Apple iBook 128MB PC100 SDRAM |
|
|
Apple iBook 64MB Memory Upgrade $19.99 Apple iBook 64MB PC100 SDRAM |
|
|
AC ADAPTER FOR G4 AND IBOOK 65W $41.99 AC ADAPTER FOR G4 AND IBOOK 65W |
|
|
Mace PS-AC4 POWERBOOK IBOOK AC Adapter $38.94 POWERBOOK IBOOK AC Adapter |
|
|
Apple M7716LLA-BATCVR IBOOK SE Battery Cover $65.95 IBOOK SE Battery Cover |