Burning down bookstores with only a Kindle

It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore. – Steve Jobs , January 2008

With the release of Amazon’s eBook reader, Kindle, the speculation flourished on how successful such a product could be. Two years since its release, the Kindle has generated Amazon a large amount of revenue in both Kindle sales as well as eBook purchases for the Kindle. In the current digital age, paper based literature had seeming gone by the wayside. The Kindle is a fresh attempt to move print into digitally consumable package and extend a lifeline to publishers and authors alike.

The Steve Jobs quote highlights the general conception of reading in America. What Jobs disregarded was that only a small number of consumers who do read books purchase the bulk of books. These heavy consumers are the only thing keeping your local bookstore from becoming solely a coffee shop. With that in mind, what effect does the Kindle have on brick and mortar bookstores? According to Seth Godin, the heartbeat of brick and mortar bookstores should be prepared to flat line in the coming years. The effect of channeling”load-bearing” consumers from any market into a new venue is sure to collapse the original structure they helped maintain. This all progresses towards the next question that might be asked. What will happen to the libraries?

Retrieved on December 28th from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/how-the-kindle-let-amazon-make-a-lot-from-the-few/

Retrieved on December 28th from http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2008/08/despite-flaws-kindle-a-growing-success-for-amazon.ars

Retrieved on December 28th from http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/12/its-not-the-rats-you-need-to-worry-about.html

Advertisement