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Microsoft would have never succeeded with an e-reader even if they had shipped it. Amazon succeeded because they already had a stranglehold on the print book ma
by ggg9990 9y ago
Microsoft would have never succeeded with an e-reader even if they had shipped it. Amazon succeeded because they already had a stranglehold on the print book market and skeptical publishers had little choice but to go all in on the Kindle. Consumers bought Kindles because Amazon was able to give them basically any book they wanted on the Kindle at the price they wanted (later deemed illegal), which Microsoft would have not been able to do.
- petra 9y agoMicrosoft may have been able to use the threat of book piracy to push publisher to it's system, in the same way Apple did with the iPod and MP3 piracy.
- ggg9990 9y agoApple was able to do that because MP3 piracy was already rampant. e-book piracy was not.
- toyg 9y agoEbook piracy has always been rampant (and still is), ereaders just introduced slightly better formats than pdf.
- ggg9990 9y agoI don’t think ebook piracy has jeopardized book sales though? Music piracy certainly did.
- dingo_bat 9y agoWhy do you think so? I'd think both would have the same effect.
- girvo 9y agoWhy would one have that effect but not the other? They’re identical as far as I can see; and you even use the same distribution channels for pirating them.
- ggg9990 9y agoI don’t have any data... but I suspect that music piracy was more widespread and displacing more sales of music. Anecdotally, I do not recall the publishing industry crying “the sky is falling” over ebook piracy while the music industry certainly was.
- hrktb 9y agoSony was there in the ebook reader market in the timeframe people in this thread are fantasming to Microsoft. And it didn’t go anywhere, partly because like Microsoft, Sony relied heavily on a host computer for devices that should have been standalone at any cost, and also because unlike Amazon they had no mindshare regarding books. It just looked like an also ran product that could be gone at any time.
- m_mueller 9y agoApple started in the music business from scratch with a host computer dependent device as well - execution seems to make all the difference. Of course, today no-one would accept such a device, but back then it was the norm. I think the difference is that Amazon was already in a prime position to grab the digital book market, while for music there was no company in such a position.
- kmonsen 9y agoThis is true, almost every other e-reader had failed. The Kindle hardware is pricey and not that great but the ecosystem is.
- reubenswartz 9y agoMSFT might have been too early, and you're certainly right that there was no guarantee of success, but back then, MSFT was the company everyone feared and they had a lot of clout.