Why The Kindle Reader Is So Successful
E-book readers were very definitely the hot electronic gadget of 2009. Amazon updated its kindle reader releasing first the Kindle 2.0 in February and then following up in June with the larger display Kindle DX. Both these launches attracted a lot of publicity for e-book readers and other manufacturers either released their own readers or developed them as fast as they could for release at the earliest opportunity.
The current consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas has, for the first time ever, a special section just for e-book readers - and there are plenty companies exhibiting there. The trouble is that most of the companies releasing new readers seem to have missed the point.
At the moment, Amazon have around 60% of the American e-book reader market. Sony have about 35% which leaves the rest of the competition fighting for a tiny proportion of the available market. Of course, the market is very new and in a period of extremely rapid development. A new and innovative reader which ticks the right boxes could make some serious inroads into the dominance of Amazon.
Amazon have enjoyed such rampant success with the Kindle for a variety of reasons. The technical aspects are certainly important, but they are far from the whole story. The fact is, people associate Amazon with both books and electronics. The Kindle is an extraordinarily good fit for the Amazon business model and the buying public trust Amazon. There are very few other companies who enjoy such a privileged position and they will need to work very hard to displace the Kindle, regardless of how many different bells and whistles their new, competing readers may possess.
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