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The entire reading ecosystem at Amazon is stagnant. The kindle e-readers have had release after release of subpar hardware with features introduced by now-kille

The entire reading ecosystem at Amazon is stagnant. The kindle e-readers have had release after release of subpar hardware with features introduced by now-killed competitors a decade ago. Read reviews of the brand new Oasis, a $300 product featuring a micro USB port. Amazon does not care about readers, probably because they drive so few dollars and the market is won. Reading does not drive prime subscriptions, and anyone with decent product management ability and influence is working on something more important.

_jal 7y ago
> The entire reading ecosystem at Amazon is stagnant They are actively malignant at this point. They are breaking embargoes now[1], and clearly won't be satisfied until they kill traditional publishing. I dropped Prime last year, and it was substantially easier than I thought it would be. Since then, they've just kept doing disgusting, grotesque crap[2]. At this point, I won't buy anything from them. The whole site reminds me of that cleaning-product smell at Walmart - any time I'm exposed to it, I just want to leave. That orangey-yellow color means a fight with an untrustworthy, grubby greedhead robot that consistently fucks up delivery and makes me deal with them some more. Who needs that? [1] https://boingboing.net/2019/09/05/amazon-breaks-embargo-on-marga.html https://boingboing.net/2019/09/05/amazon-breaks-embargo-on-m... [2] https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190807/20024842742/ring-is-teaching-cops-how-to-obtain-doorbell-camera-footage-without-warrant.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190807/20024842742/ring-...
CydeWeys 7y ago
At this point, Amazon is treating Kindle like Texas Instruments is treating their graphing calculators. Both have entrenched monopolies and have no need whatsoever to improve their product, which being able to sell them at ridiculous margin. It's laughable how much a new Kindle costs the consumer vs how much it actually costs to manufacture. If this were a non-monopolistic market then many competitors would be leaping into the fray with superior products at a fraction of the cost, but because Amazon isn't forced to grant them access to the Kindle store, it's not even possible to compete. This is a clear example of an area where consumers are suffering from a monopolistic grip over the market.
- Ecolog 7y ago
  Don't Kindles cost a lot to make simply due to the expensive display? E-Ink has a monopoly pretty much which keeps costs high
  - CydeWeys 7y ago
    Monochrome e-ink displays are quite a mature technology at this point, and aren't very expensive. You can go on Alibaba for quotes on bulk rates for e-ink displays.
- bredren 7y ago
  I think some onus is on Apple, the only other player that could deliver hardware and has A complete store for books. I understand it that they would not release any ink devices that fragment their product lineup beyond iPhone and iPad. However, Apple‘s lack of action in providing quality reading experiences that reduce eyestrain and effectively Compete means that everyone has to deal with Amazon’s garbage. I hate to say it but I think reading is a niche market. Not enough people do it, a lot more people want to watch YouTube then read Cormac McCarthy.
  - CydeWeys 7y ago
    I'm with you up until the last point. Reading is decidedly not niche in the US. Books (across all formats) are a huuuge market. They're roughly 2/3rds the size of the entire videogaming industry in this country, by revenue. The total annual revenue of the US book publishing industry is greater than YouTube's (but just barely).
    - bredren 7y ago
      Wow. Then how do you explain the malaise? Could it be ebooks are a fraction of that?
      - CydeWeys 7y ago
        E-books are doing pretty well. It's a flat-out monopoly. Amazon has a strangehold on the market. If you only had to compete on the hardware, then you'd see competitors. But you need to compete with the entire market ecosystem, which is very hard. It's like the mobile phone industry, except instead of two unassailable players there's only a single one.

_jal 7y ago

> The entire reading ecosystem at Amazon is stagnant They are actively malignant at this point. They are breaking embargoes now[1], and clearly won't be satisfied until they kill traditional publishing. I dropped Prime last year, and it was substantially easier than I thought it would be. Since then, they've just kept doing disgusting, grotesque crap[2]. At this point, I won't buy anything from them. The whole site reminds me of that cleaning-product smell at Walmart - any time I'm exposed to it, I just want to leave. That orangey-yellow color means a fight with an untrustworthy, grubby greedhead robot that consistently fucks up delivery and makes me deal with them some more. Who needs that? [1] https://boingboing.net/2019/09/05/amazon-breaks-embargo-on-marga.html https://boingboing.net/2019/09/05/amazon-breaks-embargo-on-m... [2] https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190807/20024842742/ring-is-teaching-cops-how-to-obtain-doorbell-camera-footage-without-warrant.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190807/20024842742/ring-...

CydeWeys 7y ago

At this point, Amazon is treating Kindle like Texas Instruments is treating their graphing calculators. Both have entrenched monopolies and have no need whatsoever to improve their product, which being able to sell them at ridiculous margin. It's laughable how much a new Kindle costs the consumer vs how much it actually costs to manufacture. If this were a non-monopolistic market then many competitors would be leaping into the fray with superior products at a fraction of the cost, but because Amazon isn't forced to grant them access to the Kindle store, it's not even possible to compete. This is a clear example of an area where consumers are suffering from a monopolistic grip over the market.

Ecolog 7y ago
Don't Kindles cost a lot to make simply due to the expensive display? E-Ink has a monopoly pretty much which keeps costs high
- CydeWeys 7y ago
  Monochrome e-ink displays are quite a mature technology at this point, and aren't very expensive. You can go on Alibaba for quotes on bulk rates for e-ink displays.
bredren 7y ago
I think some onus is on Apple, the only other player that could deliver hardware and has A complete store for books. I understand it that they would not release any ink devices that fragment their product lineup beyond iPhone and iPad. However, Apple‘s lack of action in providing quality reading experiences that reduce eyestrain and effectively Compete means that everyone has to deal with Amazon’s garbage. I hate to say it but I think reading is a niche market. Not enough people do it, a lot more people want to watch YouTube then read Cormac McCarthy.
- CydeWeys 7y ago
  I'm with you up until the last point. Reading is decidedly not niche in the US. Books (across all formats) are a huuuge market. They're roughly 2/3rds the size of the entire videogaming industry in this country, by revenue. The total annual revenue of the US book publishing industry is greater than YouTube's (but just barely).
  - bredren 7y ago
    Wow. Then how do you explain the malaise? Could it be ebooks are a fraction of that?
    - CydeWeys 7y ago
      E-books are doing pretty well. It's a flat-out monopoly. Amazon has a strangehold on the market. If you only had to compete on the hardware, then you'd see competitors. But you need to compete with the entire market ecosystem, which is very hard. It's like the mobile phone industry, except instead of two unassailable players there's only a single one.