Amazon is the largest book seller in the world. It also happens to be the biggest online retail outlet in the U.S. It was founded in 1994, by Jeff Bezos, and the company now has separate websites in Germany, France, the UK, Canada and China.
Considering its current level of success, it’s easy to forget just what an innovative idea buying books online and having them delivered by mail was at the time. Many investors and business analysts predicted trouble for Amazon during its formative years – and it was not until the end of 2001 that Amazon eventually made a profit.
Having revolutionised the manner in which many people bought books, Amazon very quickly grew their portfolio by the addition of video, music CDs, toys and games and computer software. There are very few consumer items that can’t be found on Amazon today. You can even do your grocery shopping with them if you like.
Amazon now offer a huge range of consumer goods on their site – but there is still a very powerful association with books. It’s fair to say that Amazon are passionate about books. So, in November of 2007, when the original Kindle e-book reader was released, it was obvious that this was a great product for Amazon which would fit their business model very well indeed.
Today, it’s easy to overlook the fact that the Kindle was far from the first e-book reader. In 1999, over a decade ago, Franklin had released the eBookman – widely regarded as the first dedicated e-book reader. Sony’s PRS reader also got a head start on the Kindle when it launched in 2006. Even so, Amazon don’t seem to have suffered greatly as a result of not being first to market. Due to their association with books, trust in the Amazon brand and the fact that there was a good, and ever growing, selection of Kindle books to choose from, the Kindle quickly overhauled its competitors. The launch of the enhanced Kindle 2.0 in February of 2009, quickly followed by the DX model in June of the same year, solidified Amazon’s leading position yet further. The Kindle became Amazon’s top selling product and, during the 2009 festive season, it became Amazon’s “most gifted” product ever.
Currently, although the Kindle is still the number one e-book reader on offer, competition levels are increasing exponentially. Alternative readers with touch screen controls and color screens are available. After no more than a few short months the Kindle, in terms of hardware, may be beginning to show its age. However, analysing the e-book reader market purely in terms of hardware functionality is missing the point somewhat.
amazon, more than any of its competitors, knows exactly what people who read large amounts of books – its target market and best customers – want and value. That’s why Amazon’s dominance of the e-book reader market is likely to continue for some time to come.
Discover the Amazon Kindle and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you customise and protect your reader.