Schumpeterian Creative Destruction in IT
1. The Apple iPad is a Kindle Killer - Amazon Kindle's market share fell 15 points in November to less than half of the e-reader market (47%), due to competition from the Apple iPad (32% market share).
2. "A research firm predicts that in 2011, computing’s third major technology wave will become mainstream, when computers held in one’s hand — smartphones and tablets — really take over and start putting personal computers in the rearview mirror."
8 Comments:
I wonder about handheld computers. A physical reality--the hand is too big to type on small tablets.
My guess: Hardware gets cheaper and cheaper, and we use both.
Hardware of all kinds gets cheaper all the time, software becomes nearly free--except for military goods, which always become more expensive in each budget cycle.
The I-Pad is a Kindle device killer but not a Kindle software killer. Amazon has over half the e-book market and Kindle reader software is available for free download to computers and smart-phones. Amazon has created e-book critical mass for itself.
Amazon will continue to build on the e-book model by offering publishers a larger share of revenues. In exchange for higher revenue Amazon gets preferential treatment from publishers. This is all done without a physical inventory and very low distribution costs.
The Kindle device is a very good product but it is really the "razor" and e-books are the "blades", for Amazon marketing.
Hand helds are taking over, My pc is dormant most of the time. Now, if I ever get the hang of the droid speller......
Computing is overwhelmingly a thing of accretion. Everybody I know who has an iPhone also has a laptop and very likely, a desktop. Small sample, but still...
Mark - I don't see creative destruction in the iPad/Kindle story. It's really more of an example of the niche-ification of the modern market.
Consumers are pickier than ever and want exactly what they want. The two devices serve different needs, and the e-book market, at least at present, can support both devices.
I'm wondering if the Kindle will migrate (abilities wise) towards what the iPad can do now?
It doesn't really follow that it's a Kindle killer, simply from market share. If you define Heinz Tomato Ketchup as an e-book then its market share would be huge. I'd look at downloaded books or something similar.
"The two devices serve different needs, and the e-book market, at least at present, can support both devices"...
Hmmm, well misterjosh I used to and still think the same of cell phones and personal GPS units but now look...
Now the 'smart phone' is here and it can do a Kindle type job, a watch type job, a phone type job, a GPS type job and last but not least a personal entertainment (music/movies/live streaming video) type job...
So maybe just maybe there's something to this 'creative destruction>' stuff...:-)
Post a Comment
<< Home