iPad Threat Looms Large over Amazon’s Kindle

[Maura]

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Forbe’s Velocity tech blog reports on the fact that Amazon’s stock has been down this year due to investor concern over the long-term impact of iBooks on Amazon’s own Kindle reader. Forbes quotes a report by Citi analyst Mark Mahaney which predicts that Kindle’s current price and selection superiority over iBooks won’t last.

Mahaney based his analysis on a study of the New York Times best-sellers list, with the major points of his investigations being that Kindle currently has 88 percent of NYT fiction/non-fiction best-sellers, as opposed to 63 percent for iBooks, that Kindle currently has a 10 percent price advantage over iBooks, and that 50 percent of NYT fiction/non-fiction best sellers are available for both platforms, with 80 percent of the books being the same price on each platform.

Although these figures might initially sound positive for Amazon, Forbes points out that if iBooks is performing almost as well as Kindle after just a few months, it will doubtless have overtaken Kindle in a year, especially with so many more iPhone 4s, iPads and iPod touches carrying iBooks after the launch of iPhone 4 and iOS 4 next week.

Source: Forbes.com

 

[figmo10]

If Amazon believed that iBooks and the iPad would be such a threat, Bezos et. al made a brilliant move with the Kigndle iApp. I've sold both of our household Kindles since buying the iPad, but I've bought nothing from iBooks and more than a few titles from the Kindle store. I expect that the loser in this competition will be the consumer as the price and availability gap quickly narrows between the two vendors. Amazon began as an online bookstore while iTunes started out selling music.

 

[Ripplinghurst]

I think the iPad is too heavy for reading, holding it with one hand can be tiring.

The Kindle has better battery and it's much lighter, not to mention the screen is so much better (not reflective at all, while the iPad is a glare country).

I think there's a market for the Kindle, surely, but it's much smaller than the iPad's.

 

[iVan]

Amazon is still a better option here. There are still no iBooks to be purchased.

 

[Temp40]

not to mention the screen is so much better (not reflective at all, while the iPad is a glare country).

effective anti-glare screen protectors have been available for the iPad since it's debut and aren't that expensive either

 

[Abrennan]

It seems that only the USA and Canada can see books in iBooks other than the standard out of copyright books. Is that correct?

That means as more people in the world get iPads then more and more will go to Amazon as they cannot get any worthwhile books from iBooks. I have bought at least ten books from Amazon and bought none from iBooks.

It would seem that iBooks will have to open up the the world or be wiped out by Amazon anywhere except USA and Canada. At the moment Amazon rocks for anyone outside the North Americas.

Any thoughts about why amazons selling books to the world that iBooks aren't.

 

[Ripplinghurst]

not to mention the screen is so much better (not reflective at all, while the iPad is a glare country).

effective anti-glare screen protectors have been available for the iPad since it's debut and aren't that expensive either

Effective? Not so fast. I do have an AG screen protector, just bought another (writeshield, the best in the biz, AFAIK). They do improve things, but you still can see reflections. Not so much with indoor lighting, but outside, outdoors, it is still bad. What they do is they SPREAD the reflection accross the screen, they do not ABSORB them behind the screen, like a transflective screen does.

The ideal treatment has to be done inside the screen too: AR coatings on the internal side of the Capacitive touchscreen glass, optically bonded to the internal LCD glass, which also should have AR coatings to both sides. That Apple didn't do that is evident, since it's clearly mirror glossy. I'm not a specialist or anything, just read this article a couple years ago, and I think it's a fairly simple explanation of the challenges involved trying to fight the sun light.

Quote:

When you're indoors in subdued lighting, the lack of an anti-glare coating actually makes the screen look better. Colors seem richer, the image seems sharper and the whole screen seems to "pop". This is highly desirable when you're watching a DVD movie. But outdoors, the lack of an anti-glare coating turns the screen into a mirror, which is highly undesirable.
An anti-glare coating doesn't reduce the amount of light reflected by the screen — it just changes its form. A plain sheet of glass reflects 4% of the light that hits it. If the glass doesn't have an anti-glare coating, the 4% is reflected directly back at you and can see yourself clearly in the glass (it's acting like a dim mirror). If the glass does have an anti-glare coating, the 4% is reflected in all directions (scattered or diffused), and all you can see in the glass is an indistinct blob rather than a clear image. This is very helpful outdoors, since it prevents you from seeing a blinding image of the sun reflected in the screen.

It was a BAD BAD decision for Apple not to offer a matte screen for those who, say, love to read by the pool, who prefers to read or work outdoors, or plan to use the ipad also in the car.

Glossy works great for couch potatoes, though.

 

[not2fly1000]

I'd like to see the iPad incorporate the Kindle-esque screen settings for reading ala Innoversal's prototype device and the Notion Ink Tablet. I think those devices are better situated as Kindle killers because of the extended battery life and easiness on the eyes of the "eReader" screen settings.

 

[arshield]

The cataloge is important, but sales are more important. It does not matter if ibooks has the same number of books as kindle. The issues is whether ibooks sells as many books as kindle. Right now, the prospects of that happening are very slim in the next two years. Kindle owners buy books. Ipad owners may buy some books. My guess is that the average kindle owner buys at least 15 books for kindle a year ( I have had my kindle for just over two years and I have more than 400 kindle books, some public domain but only a couple dozen.) How many books do you think the average ipad user is going to buy a year. I would say 1 to 3 because more than half of the ipad owners will never buy a book on the ipad. They did not buy the ipad to read books, they bought it as a computer, game platform, productivity device, email or web browser.

I am very skeptical of any estimates that have ipad coming even with kindle sales within two to three years. Past that, I have no idea.

 

[Ripplinghurst]

I'd like to see the iPad incorporate the Kindle-esque screen settings for reading ala Innoversal's prototype device and the Notion Ink Tablet. I think those devices are better situated as Kindle killers because of the extended battery life and easiness on the eyes of the "eReader" screen settings.

WHOA, I'd buy those!

 

[not2fly1000]

I'd like to see the iPad incorporate the Kindle-esque screen settings for reading ala Innoversal's prototype device and the Notion Ink Tablet. I think those devices are better situated as Kindle killers because of the extended battery life and easiness on the eyes of the "eReader" screen settings.

WHOA, I'd buy those!

Yea, me too! lol

I'm holding out on making a purchase until some of these other devices get released. I want to see how they end up performing. They sound impressive though. I just hope I can summon the patience to wait another month or two.

 

[Jeffs820]

IPAD scam on ebay beware

Hello to all that will read this. I recently purchased an IPAD on ebay and received it just as described. My wife had car trouble that was going to cost a bundle so I had to sell the ipad to come up with the cash. It had been unlocked so I thought it would be worth a bit more than normal. I listed the 16GB Wi-Fi for $789.00 or best offer with $44.00 for international shipping. The guy didn't make an offer he purchased the ipad at full price. I was shocked I had just made several hundred bucks that quick. I received an e-mail in ebay messaging asking me to send it to his brother in the Philippines since he had paid the $829.00 so I said ok. After that I was thinking this might not be a good idea so I contacted ebay. The person I spoke with asked if I had his money in my paypal account and I replied yes. He said do you have the e-mail within ebay messaging that ask you to send it there. I said yes. He told me to be sure to get a receipt when I shipped it but the transaction would not be a problem. Well guess what. The unit mailed on June 5th. On June 18th I woke up and fixed coffee and sat down to look at some items I was selling and checked my bank account and it showed some money missing and said paypal. I had 800.00 in paypal when I went to bed. When I opened it I was $44.00 overdrawn they had wiped out my account. The money was reversed out of my account. Says hold being reviewed by paypal agent. I was on the phone for 3 hours and everyone kept pointing fingers at each other. Ebay said it was paypal that should deal with it and paypal said ebay should deal with it. The long and short of it is I don;t have an IPAD or my money. Finally ebay admitted they had been attacked and it was a large scale attack world wide. Most being in Nigeria but some like mine in the Philippines. I don't know if I'll ever get my money. I run it to the top level of security by asking to speak with your boss and then when that person got on the phone I asked to speak to there boss I would not take no for an answer Get names and dept. climb as high as you can go. At the end of it all the transferred me on last time to the billing dept. they said I should (Key word) have money in my account within 48 hours. I'll re post tomorrow to let you know if ebay made good on this. I have my doubts. They said there were 1,000's of people affected by this. I want my seller protection. They said the crooks had inside knowledge of the inner workings of both ebay and paypal and that they may even have inside help pulling this off. I hope the crook fills his tub with lots of bubbles and pours a stiff drink and sits the ipad on the side of the tub. With any luck it will fall in and burn his nuts off. Actually I hope it fries his ass with the massive processor they have. Ebay said they only target Apple products due to the power. They were very closed lip about everything like they really didn't want to tell me anything about it. They said there was a major investigation going on that included the FBI. I hope they rot in hell. Seller beware. I've also heard of issue buying them on ebay as well. Hope everyone has a good night and thank you for letting me vent. Not a very good farthers day gift at all.

 

[epb]

I think there's a market for the Kindle, surely, but it's much smaller than the iPad's.

Yep, the Kindle is much better for reading. The only way the iPad is a "Kindle-killer" is that it offers a lot more functionality, and I'd rather carry the iPad than carry both a Kindle and a Netbook.

 

[iPadCharlie]

I listed the 16GB Wi-Fi for $789.00 or best offer with $44.00 for international shipping. The guy didn't make an offer he purchased the ipad at full price. I was shocked I had just made several hundred bucks that quick.

Gee, you wonder why these Nigerian scams are still so prevalent??? Because people are greedy! Did you honestly believe that you were going to make almost $300 more than what it originally cost?

My grandpappy had a saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!"

I gotta tell ya, I am having a really tough time feeling any sympathy for you.

 

[pallentx]

The two are a totally separate class of device. The Kindle has an unlit screen that is easier on the eyes and only uses power when the screen changes.

Amazon may sell a few less Kindles because of the iPad, but as long as you are buying books through the Kindle app, they don't care. iBooks will offer some competition, but that's not the only alternative publisher for ebooks out there. Right now, it looks like Amazon has a wider selection. in the end, competition is good for us