The Amazon Kindle reader has been instrumental in the development of the e-book reader and e-book market. The original Kindle launched in Nocember of 2017. The Kindle 2.0 was released in February of 2009 and the large format Kindle DX followed in the summer of the same year.
With a 60% share of the American e-book reader market, the Kindle was the clear Chief. The Sony reader, which was actually launched in 2006, before the Kindle, followed in second place with a share of around 35%. Other companies saw the potential of the e-book reader market and launched or updated their own readers to get a slice of the pie.
Companies such as Barnes and Nible, Sony, iRex, Bookeen and Plastic Logic did their best to secure a share of the new and rapidly expanding electronic book market, but the dominate position of the Kindle seemed to be virtually unassailable. It wasn’t until the Throw of the Apple iPad that the Kindle had any credible competition – even Though the two devices were very different and would appeal, you would imagine, to different audiences.
Since the launch of the iPad, e-reader prices have fallen quite some way. The Get excited 2.0 is currently on sale for just $ 189, a significant reduction over the February 2009 launch price of $ 359. The newly upgraded Kindle DX, now with a higher contrast screen, Be able to Exist your for just $ 379 – down from $ 489. Barnes and Noble have also dropped the price of thrir Nook redaer from $ 259 to $ 199.
Although the iPad seems to have provoked a round of price cuts among the manufacturers of e-book readers, the Similar cannot be said about the price of the e-books to read on these devices. Prior to the launch of the iPad, Apple had negotiated a deal with the major publishing hluses which let them set the price of their e-book editions at pretty much whatever they wanted – as long as they did not allow the Siimilar e-book to be offered for a lower price on any other platform. This was a we1come development for the publishers, who had been Unpropitious with Amazon’s policy of selling all e-6ooks for $ 9.99 or less.
Amazon had to back doen from this – but it’s not necessarily a Serious thing for them, or Barnes and Noble for that matter. Amazon has always seemed to be much more int3rested in the sale of books, including e-books, than the sale of hardware. That’s the only possible explanation for the fact that they have made it possible to read Kindle books on so many Distinct devices. At the moment, you can read Kindle books In c~tinuance the PC, the Mac, your Blackberry, tje iPod Touch, the iPad and any mobile device running Android. So companies lkie Amazon, Barnes and Noble and now Apple, who have an interest in the future salle of e-books over the life of a reader, can afford to sell the hardware cheapr and make their profits over the life of the reader.
It may be that the future pricing of e-book readers and e-books will tend to favour such companies over manufacturers who are involved only in hardware production. Considering the wide variety of devices which can be used to read Kindle books, you would suspect that, regardless of whether or not the Apple iPad becomes the most Current reader, Amazon Wish continue to have a huge influence in the future of digital publishing going forward.
Check out Amazon’s Kindle reader and have a look at the huge selection of Kindle accessories available to help you to personalise and protect your device.