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How the Kindle Could Kill Book Publishing

...if an Apple e-reader doesn't kill the Kindle first

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 9, 2009 7:31 PM CDT
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(Newser) – With the Kindle, Amazon's Jeff Bezos may be poised “ to do to book publishers what Steve Jobs did to the music industry,” writes Adam Penenberg in Fast Company: rapidly create a market from nothing and use it to rule over publishers with an iron fist, perhaps even “phasing them out completely.” Amazon’s e-book revenue should reach $1.2 billion by next year, an analyst says, but to rule, Bezos needs to "nail down distribution of e-books, turn them into a mass-market phenomenon," and set e-book prices low enough—and Apple could spell trouble.

Apple has been rumored to be working on an e-reader, and the black-and-white Kindle could easily lose out to a snazzy, color multimedia tablet. That could be good news for publishers: It would create competition—and unlike Amazon, Apple doesn’t want “to usurp the publishers' role or to control content," Penenberg writes. "Suddenly, the hunter becomes the hunted, and if e-books take off, Amazon could find itself the odd man out."

Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos introduces the Kindle DX at a news conference Wednesday, May 6, 2009 in New York.
Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos introduces the Kindle DX at a news conference Wednesday, May 6, 2009 in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
In this Oct. 14, 2008, file photo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs smiles during a product announcement at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.
In this Oct. 14, 2008, file photo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs smiles during a product announcement at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
The Kindle DX, displaying a page from The New York Times, is demonstrated at a news conference Wednesday, May 6, 2009 in New York.
The Kindle DX, displaying a page from The New York Times, is demonstrated at a news conference Wednesday, May 6, 2009 in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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Few consumers were talking about e-books until the Kindle arrived. Then it quickly began to coalesce an entire market—much as Apple and the iPod did to MP3s and MP3 players.
- Adam Penenberg

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 10 comments
Snarfeh
Jul 11, 2009 6:45 AM CDT
I suggest you buy a netbook instead...eReaders are somewhat limited. With a netbook, you have all the things you get with your PC or laptop and you can download free eReader software to it. AND, there's apps out there that will convert most brands of eReader files to something you can read with the software you select for your netbook. Netbooks cost about the same and don't weigh much more than the eReaders...
Snarfeh
Jul 11, 2009 6:41 AM CDT
Maybe a better comparison would have been newspapers...
kokuaguy
Jul 10, 2009 7:35 AM CDT
The textbook publishers have been making out like bandits for years, at the expense of those who are least able to pay.

 
Apple • publisher • book • Kindle • Amazon • ebooks • publishing industry

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