Sunday, August 01, 2010

What Kindle and iPad eBook sales may mean

The predictions that Amazon is making about paperback sales are interesting. I like their customer centric stance even if I'm a little skeptical when they say the price cuts are all about the customer, because it shows they have their eye on the right spot (customer). The chatter around the new Kindle is interesting and has little to do with the device as the message that comes with it. I feel like Kindle vs. iPad is like the past Presidential Democratic primaries in how there were a number of runners but its coming down to two different candidates. I keep rethinking my position on what I think will happen and what I want to happen. However, my basic idea has been that Kindle (and to a lesser extent other eInk devices) will be for that small set of the population who's always been publishing's core audience. Ipad readers will be where bestseller breakthroughs occur and the average person has a copy of maybe a couple books like Da Vinci Code or the Twilight series. The challenge of a bestseller has always been to hit both core audience and average person, but now that is complicated by the need for the content to bridge devices/platforms.

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