I disagree, the technology is necessary but not sufficient. To compete as a distributor of mass consumer goods, you need a distribution infrastructure (warehous

I disagree, the technology is necessary but not sufficient. To compete as a distributor of mass consumer goods, you need a distribution infrastructure (warehouses, trucks, servers and the logistics operation to run them). The technology that makes up trucks, warehouses and servers may be commoditized, but the ability to own and operate hundreds of millions of dollars worth of them, with enough profit to keep growing the fleet every year - that's a very real barrier to entry because customers like getting their purchases the next day or even the same day, and doing that consistently for many customers requires that kind of a fleet. On top of that, you need a way to reach customers online. The brand is sticky enough that many people start their book search directly on Amazon. To get a chance to compete for that search (presumably on Google) you'll need to hope that they find the price outrageous enough to overcome the promise of a convenient and reliable next-day delivery, pre-configured shipping and billing, etc. Lastly Amazon is working hard to move the battle away from the open web: once a customer has a Kindle, the bar is even higher to compete for their future purchases.