Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

There’s no way to know if the Kindle App Store will be a success. It is, however, a shot that Amazon must take.

What people are missing is that if the Kindle App Store is a success it’ll give Amazon an almost unassailable advantage over other eReaders. The eReader App Store that becomes the first big success (amongst eReader app stores) will have a vicious positive cycle going for it -

1. Apps will add a lot of value to the device.
2. Users will migrate to the device and to the platform. 
3. Developers will be attracted by the possibility of huge success due to the number of users. 
4. More and more users and more and more developers will join – increasing the value for each other.

The more successful an App Store the more developers flock to it and the likelier that great apps are made that make the App Store more compelling to users.

Lessons from iPhone App Store Vs Android Vs Intel’s App Store

There are three articles that illustrate perfectly the importance of being the first big successful app store in your niche/field.

To the Victor go the spoils

First, we have articles about Android Apps and Intel Apps -

1. TechCrunch talks about a $13,000 a month app success story on Android. It’s a $3.99 app and ranks between 100 and 200 in the Android App Store. Note that a $1 app would have to sell 4 times as much and see below for hints that the top paid Android apps are probably not making very much more than $13,000 a month.
2. PC World talks about Intel offering a million in cash incentives to developers to get them to develop for its AppUp Center (App Store for netbooks).  

Digging deeper into Android we can take a look at a current top paid app, Abduction for Android, and see that it has 21,000 or so total downloads - half of which have been over the last 5 months. We also see Larva Labs, who had two apps in the Top Paid Apps list, talk about how difficult it is to make money in the Android App Store.

Please keep in mind that these are the hits we’re talking about.

Meanwhile, we see successful iPhone apps making hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. We recently had a game, Plants Vs Zombies, make a million dollars in its first 10 days.

There is a chasm between #1 and the rest.

The #1 App Store has developers flock to it just for the possible rewards and gets the best apps. The #2 app store gets a few developers success stories (although on a much smaller scale than in the #1 app store). New App Stores have to offer cash to developers (even Android offered cash prizes in the beginning).

The victor will get the spoils with eReader App Stores too

We are going to see the same pattern with eReader App Stores -

1. The #1 App Store for eReaders will see big success stories and decent amounts of profits.
2. This will attract quality developers and quality apps and add to the value proposition of the device.
3. This in turn will create more sales and create a bigger market for apps.

The 2nd and 3rd eReader app stores are going to get left far, far behind. 

eReader Apps can create and accentuate differences between eReaders

While there is brutal competition between eReaders they are all relatively new and unpolished devices. We are at the second generation of eReaders and there just hasn’t been enough time to add in all the obvious value-add features. On top of that you have all the really creative apps and ideas that might translate into value-add apps.

eReaders need Calculators

Basically, there is a lot of scope to create apps that add a lot of value.

The Kindle doesn’t even have a calculator feature. The Kindle DX doesn’t use the accelerometer for anything except page orientation. The Sony Touch doesn’t leverage free hand drawing as well as they could, and the Nook limits its LCD screen severely. Not only can you come up with innovative and novel apps that add value you can create basic apps that are standard on most phones and they can add a lot of value.

Would you rather have an eReader with a Calculator feature or one without?

What’s the feature/app that would add a lot of value to your eReader experience?

There’s a pretty good chance it gets added. There’s also a pretty good chance that some more apps from your Top 10 eReader Apps wishlist get added to the Kindle App Store.

eReader + Apps beats every other eReader

 Let’s say that at the minimum we get quality versions of these 10 apps for the Kindle -

1. Chess.
2. Sudoku. 
3. Calculator. 
4. Calendar. 
5. Address Book. 
6. Crosswords.
7. Twitter Client.
8. Facebook Client.
9. Feature that lets you use free Kindle memory as a USB drive more easily.
10. Wishlists.

No matter what you think of Kindle vs Nook or Kindle vs Sony you have to admit that having these 10 additional features and games gives the Kindle something no other eReader has.

• Now what if there are actually 100 quality apps that are released (amongst thousands of total apps).
• What if developers flock more and more to the Kindle and add more and more apps while ignoring other eReaders stores (when they open).

At some point apps might (and will) turn the Kindle into a much, much better choice than any other eReader. 

Closing Thought – Early mover advantage is underrated

If the Kindle App Store gets things right (or even mostly right) it will be a success and it will gain a huge lead. eReader App Stores that spring up afterwards i.e. after seeing the Kindle App Store succeed, will have a hard time even matching the range of apps available on the Kindle.

It’s exactly what we are seeing now with Apple’s lead in App Stores. It’s what we saw when OpenSocial tried to take on Facebook Apps. It’s what we see in every market where an early mover creates or wins a market and everyone else is left clawing for second place.

The Kindle App Store has no rivals and if it doesn’t get rivals within 6 months the Kindle will be untouchable (as far as other eReaders are concerned).

Filed under: kindle app review Tagged: | first mover advantage, kindle app store