I don’t really have a full answer for this question. However, my gut tells me it will.
Here are my reasons why Kindle for iPhone App is going to kill Applications like Stanza, eReader, Classics, and so forth -
- Amazon is a trusted company and a LOT of people trust it and are familiar with it.
- Kindle 2 has a lot of buzz and a lot of iPhone owners are going to feel they get the Kindle’s functionality for free.
- Kindle Store has a huge range of books (240K+) that other iPhone reading apps can’t hope to match.
- WhisperSync makes Kindle for iPhone super attractive – especially since people are going to anticipate that Kindle Store will keep expanding to other devices.
- There are 7,000+ free books available from within the Kindle Store.
- There are a lot of features that I’m not sure are available in all iPhone reading apps – resizeable fonts, adding bookmarks, etc.
- Get first chapter samples for free for every book in the Kindle Store.
Also, here’s a Kindle for iPhone video courtesy ZolloTech –
Amazon has left one big loophole i.e. no support for buying books from within the Kindle for iPhone app. However it compares favorably with every existing iPhone reading app -
- Google Book Search for iPhone – This is not really an app, and does not have new books and in copyright books.
- Classics App – 18 classics for $3. This is a little blip compared to the Kindle Store and 7000+ free books.
- Stanza – This is quite a good competitor with over a million installs, 100K books available, and arrangements with publishers going on. However, it really can’t compare with Kindle’s range of new books.
- Shortcovers – This shows up as released on Feb 21st, 2009. Anyways this is a new entrant and not entrenched and now Kindle for iPhone will get all the mindshare and buzz. Note: Shortcovers already has a Blackberry App and a beta of an Android App.
- eReader – This is another well entrenched reading app. eReader happens to be a very well constructed app, as the video below shows. Will have to research some more for numbers, etc.
The three credible threats are Stanza, eReader and Shortcovers. Google Book Search is primarily a website that’s extended to make it accessible via iPhones and not really an app. And in my opinion Kindle for iPhone clearly beats them all.
I do think eReader and Stanza are somewhat of a threat – however, they just don’t have the brand recognition or range of books that Amazon’s Kindle for iPhone app does. Here’s an eReader video – .
Update: Via Wired -
Phil Ryu, co-creator of Classics, provider of 20 public domain books, tells Wired: “I think the Kindle app is basically going to wipe out Stanza, and I’m sure pretty much every Kindle user with an iPhone or iPod Touch will be picking it up. It’s extremely convenient, as Kindle owner myself, having all your purchased books centralized on Amazon.”
Filed under: evolution Tagged: | kindle for iphone
why does every other post here have to be about “will x KILL y? is z the kindle KILLER? omg kill kill kill!!”
is there no room in your world view for more than one product in a marketspace? isnt it possible for many products to thrive by serving customers in different ways, so that a broad customer base (as “readers” surely are) is more able to find a solution that fits with their individual set of needs? (eg, in my case, the next good reader to come out that includes expandable memory and a replacable battery is the one thats going to get my upgrade dollars, and it isnt going to be amazon)
competition is good for the kindle. its good for readers. its good for the progression of the ebook industry. i dont want (or expect) to see any particular platform or company to rise to dominance in this marketspace for a long long time.