Kindle - Another smart business strategy by Amazon
Posted November 21st, 2007 by Purazar
Kindle - an electronic book (e-book) launched by Amazon. In my opinion, they have again come up with another great business strategy that could take them one step beyond just being an internet based e-commerce website.
With Amazon.com (.ca, .fr, [dot] whatever) being one the pioneers of e-commerce, they have struck upon another idea that has been in the works for a long time. They have also come up with a brilliant model that will help sell, sell and sell more e-books to this growing market.
They will be using Sprint Nextel’s 3G network to transport the e-books that users purchase. There is no cost associated with using Sprint’s network; it is bundled in the price of the e-book/newspaper/blog subscription that is purchased, which at this time is around $10.00 USD or less.
The beauty of this is that there is no contract to sign, which puts people at easy. They can stop using this service whenever they choose, without paying any cancellation fees. People love not having to sign up for a contract.
Personally, I wouldn’t buy the hardware just yet. I like to let new technology normalize, read more in-depth reviews, and possibly get some hands on time at a store. Also, it only displays B&W pictures, which is a turn-off for me at this point. But the reason it is B&W is because of the screen type – E-Ink. It’s easier to read than a laptop screen, minimum battery use, and lightweight – OK, fair enough and I’m sure I could get used to it.
But even if I wanted one, what would I do with it? It would just have be a pretty piece of plastic sitting in my living room, because living in Canada; technology from across the border takes some time to migrate over. Currently there are no plans on bringing Kindle to Canada. None of the Canadian communication companies have 3G yet but we do have EVDO, and with just text and B&W pictures, the file sizes are pretty small, so that would work. But I'm sure the prices for an e-book would be a lot higher, since none of the carriers offer unlimited data. (How long will it take for that day to arrive??)
At the list price of $399.00 USD, it might be an expensive buy but this is where Amazon could follow the Google model, subsidise services with ads. How about selling the Kindle for $150 USD or less, and then accompany ads along with the e-book. What would work even better in Amazon’s favour is location based ads... it can be done.
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