Apple iPad threatens Amazon’s monopoly
By Wilson • Feb 23rd, 2010 • Category: eBook Readers
- Photo: Amazon
It looks like Amazon’s dominance in the eBook market is soon to end. Spencer Wang, Credit Suisse analyst, announced in a report last week that the Amazon Kindle’s shares in the eBook market could drop from a current 90% to just 35% – and in only five years. This is due to the increasing success of the Apple iPad and Google Books, which are now threatening Amazon’s monopoly on the market.
Price hikes
Cracks started showing in Amazon’s domination of the eBook market when publishers like Macmillan and Hachette introduced a mandatory price hike in their pricing model. These increases in eBook prices pushed Amazon’s pricing up to being on a par with Apple’s iBook store, resulting in serious competition between the Amazon Kindle and the Apple iPad.
Hardware threats
- Photo: Apple
When it comes to hardware, the Apple iPad itself is a threat to the Amazon Kindle. The Apple iPad can do a lot of things that the Amazon Kindle can’t. The iPad has 802.11n, and books are in colour, with video-viewing capability being in the pipelines. Additionally, with the increase in PC tablet sales and next-generation eBook readers, Amazon has even more reason to up its stakes on the hardware front.
3G networking and integration
If it’s not brilliant hardware that has made the Kindle successful, it’s their 3G networking and their integration with Amazon’s store that has generated a fan base. The Kindle DX has three major markets: textbooks, newspapers and magazines. But in exchange for a monthly contract, the iPad allows access to the Internet and 140,000 applications – including the Amazon Kindle application.
Amazon underperforming
- Photo: Amazon
Amazon’s shares have been underperforming since the launch of the Apple iPad, and according to Spencer Wang, it is thought that Apple’s entry into the eBook market is a major contributing factor to this.
Tags for this article: Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad
Apple Ipad will not replace the ebook readers.
It will be almost possible to read the Ipad in direct sunlight.
It will also be three times the weight of the kindle.
Ipad owners will not want to waist their precious battery on ebook reading. They will surely want all the battery power for, photographs, videos, browsing the internet and games.
It is like comparing chalk with cheese.
Also the Ipad is not yet on sale. I could end up being a white elephant like apple TV.
Derek.