Business and tech journals are convinced that Apple is about to announce a tablet computer that will compete with the Amazon Kindle and other book readers. Apparently the business managers at Amazon believe the rumors as well, because they have begun to make some changes. Isn't competition great?
One of the first surprises was Amazon to give a bigger cut of Kindle e-book sales to authors, publishers. As the title suggests, Amazon wants to woo publishers and authors the old-fashioned way - with money. Amazon is willing to offer authors 70 percent royalties minus delivery costs of about 6 cents per ebook unit. Previously authors earned about 30 percent from every ebook sale. (There are some conditions to this royalty offer.) Amazon is rightly concerned about the counter-culture long associated with Apple and its ability to charge premium prices. Smart move, Amazon.
Anyone with knowledge of American football knows that a team cannot win if it only plays defense. (Of course the Arizona Cardinals tried the converse last weekend and failed, but that is a story for a sportswriter.) Amazon is also going on the offensive, even taking the battle to Apple's turf - Amazon Opens Kindle to Developers. To compete with Apple's wildly popular apps, Amazon now offers a Kindle Development Kit (KDK). To woo app developers, Amazon is offering 70% royalties on these products which will be sold on the Kindle store as well.
Apple Tablet Keeps Kindle on Its Toes explains that Apple has been talking with publishers, attempting to attract them with premium-priced content. Because the Kindle is very feature limited, users can expect to read a book similar to a printed book, but little else. Speculation is that Apple will offer video clips, author interviews and insights, in addition to traditional ebook content. Harvesting its counter-culture mystique, Apple will charge more.
It is difficult to imagine that Apple can compete on price with either the tablet or ebooks. No doubt though, they will erode Kindle's overwhelming market share of ebook readers. How much is what makes this interesting. Book readers will benefit though - competition is a wonderful thing.
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