Friday Midday Links: Kindle Fire Driving Down Sales of eInk Devices
Publishing NewsAmazon / book business / DRM / Kindle Fire / Penguin24 Comments
Some people have argued (Micah Bowers of Bluefire for example) that dedicated devices will go the way of the dodo bird and I’ve always disagreed. Seeing the rise of the affordable Kindle Fire, however, is making me wonder if Micah Bowers et al is correct.
E Ink Holdings reports first loss in 10 quarters | The Verge – “E Ink, the company behind the e-paper display in your Kindle and Nook, is reporting a loss of NT$787 million (around $27 million) in Q1 2012, with net sales falling 53 percent on Q4 2012 to NT$3.84 billion (roughly $131 million). It also saw its gross profit margin fall to just 0.8 percent as compared to 28.5 percent last quarter, owing to under-utilization of its manufacturing facilities and a shift to lower-margin LCD panels.” The Verge
Tablet Competition Heats Up: Kindle Fire Captures more than Half of Android Tablet Market – comScore, Inc – “The Kindle Fire, introduced to the market in November 2011, has seen rapid adoption among buyers of tablets. Within the Android tablet market, Kindle Fire has almost doubled its share in the past two months from 29.4 percent share in December 2011 to 54.4 percent share in February 2012, already establishing itself as the leading Android tablet by a wide margin. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab family followed with a market share of 15.4 percent in February, followed by the Motorola Xoom with 7.0 percent share. The Asus Transformer and Toshiba AT100 rounded out the top five with 6.3 percent and 5.7 percent market share, respectively.” comScore
Amazon Media Room: Press Releases – Amazon’s quarterly results show increase of operating cash flow by 1% and a decrease in free cash flow by 39%. Net sales are up 34% and net income was down 35%. Amazon now has 130,000 titles that are exclusively sold at Amazon.com including 16 of the top 100 bestselling titles.
Second Quarter 2012 Guidance
Net sales are expected to be between $11.9 billion and $13.3 billion, or to grow between 20% and 34% compared with second quarter 2011.
Operating income (loss) is expected to be between $(260) million and $40 million, or between 229% decline and 80% decline compared with second quarter 2011. Amazon
April 27, 2012, 7:51 a.m. ET UPDATE: Pearson Sales Rise But Sees Lower Half-Year Profit – “Pearson’s revenue is up 12% … But the company is making inroads in the online learning space, forecasting in February that digital revenue is expected to overtake revenue from its traditional publishing operations this year, but it stopped short of providing specific figures. Pearson said Friday its education business, which accounts for more than 60% of its earnings and sales, ‘made a good start to the year.'” WSJ Note: Pearson is the parent of Penguin
Things learned and thoughts provoked by London Book Fair 2012 – The Shatzkin Files – “I got a chance to visit with Charlie Redmayne of Pottermore. … He had to be able to sell to any device; he wanted to be able to allow any purchaser complete interoperability. There was no way to do that and maintain DRM…I heard a rumor from a very reliable source that two of the Big Six are considering going to DRM-free very soon. The rumor is from the UK side, but it is hard to see a global company doing this in a market silo. Another industry listener I know was hearing similar rumors from different sources” Idealog
Yes, please.
Those Amazon figures just gave me a headache. Up/down/up/down, stick your right foot in and do the hokey, pokey.
I get the attraction of a tablet. Having seen the commercials even my mom wants an iPad (this is a woman who doesn’t use a computer at all). But I love my Sony reader. I love the eInk for no eyestrain and the ability to read on it outside. But I also love the fact I can’t really do much else on it except read. If I had a tablet, and my book of the moment hit a boring patch, I’d be more tempted to switch over and surf the web or something if I was reading on a tablet. So I hope dedicated ereaders never go the way of the dodo bird.
My Kindle 3 is about half the weight of the ipad2 and that makes a big difference for reading. However, I am guessing that if I had bought the iPad2 first I would never have seen the point of buying the Kindle. The Kindle app on the iPad2 is quite usable.
@library addict: I agree. I love my eInk device for reading for all of the reasons you mention and also because it is a lot lighter and more manageable for reading than a tablet.
I can’t think of any reason why I’d ever choose to swap my Kindle for a tablet. I might have both, but I wouldn’t give up the reader ever.
I agree with everyone, I love my Sony and would never trade it for a tablet. If I had a tablet my boss would be bothering me everywhere to do things for him, I can’t even imagine how bad that would be.
I hope it took a long, long while for the dodo bird to become extinct.
I know that tech devices have the life span of your average loaf of white bread but I like my old – refurbished – got the link from DA – spent under $125 – Kindle. It’s hanging tough and I’m sticking with it. When it dies I’ll hopefully replace it with another Kindle.
Separating my pleasure reading from everything else that is going on in the world is what works best for me.
Ditto what library addict said about those financial figures.
I didn’t buy an e-reader because the rumors of what eventually became the ipad were so strong. I knew Apple would have something great. I couldn’t justify spending the costs at the time for a device that only did one thing. If the prices had been lower I probably would’ve made the plunge anyway, but now I simply can’t imagine life without my iThing.
@JoanneL: “Separating my pleasure reading from everything else that is going on in the world is what works best for me.”
This. I just want to lose myself in the book and not be distracted by a need to tweet or check my mail.
I got the kindle as a gift which I used for a few months until my sister got the iPad2 which the whole family fell in love with. I then got my own iPad2 and now read all my e-books via the kindle app with it (or sometimes I read on my iPhone if I don’t have the iPad2 with me). I used to regularly charge up my kindle when I first got my iPad2, but I have not used it for almost a year now, and it’s back in its packaging. I found that I preferred the “flick” or “tap with fingertips” to turn pages on the iPad2 compared to pressing the button on the kindle (which gave me thumb-fatigue). I think Amazon was right to move on to the kindle fire, which, from market sales, is proving the point that people will buy something more like iPad2 than the original kindle, given the choice, and lower price. However, I agree that the e-ink is wonderful, and the kindle is far lighter – but I do a lot of my reading in bed, so the weight of the iPad2 isn’t an issue to me as I don’t hold it up. It’s still lighter than reading a large hardback book in bed! And yes, if I get bored with a book, I do go online and check e-mail, or surf – if I didn’t have the iPad2, I would probably have gotten the kindle fire too.
I bought a kindle (keyboard) a full year after getting an iPad. I don’t like reading on the LCD screen. Love my kindle.
Oh please not, do not let the dedicated devices go the way of the dodo bird. I love my Kindle 3. I don’t use it for anything except to read books and I bought it for that very reason.ILona librarysddict said, I love that I can read without being tempted to surf the net or check email. My iPhone and mini laptop already has those capabilities. Plus I love the feel and look of reading books on the K3 versus the kindle app on my iphone
and pc…long live dedicated devices! :)
Argh. Darn iphone + clumsy fingers. I meant…like librarysddict said not “Ilona”. Have no idea how that came about…
My husband reads on his Blackberry playbooks sometimes and I like that we don’t need to buy him an e-reader now (I have one, so does my eleven-year old daughter) but I wouldn’t want to read my e-books that way.
I like my Kobo being just for books. Books don’t need bells and whistles. Just words.
I love my Kindle and I love my Fire and while I’ve read books on the Fire,, I’d never give up my Kindle. The battery life is longer, it holds a library full of books and it’s just perfect.
I use my Fire all the time (like now), but do virtually all my reading on the Touch. It’s too hard on my eyes to read on a tablet. My iPad is gathering dust somewhere. . .
I loved my Kindle until it crapped out (in March and I got it for Christmas!!!), but I couldn’t see reading much non-fiction on it. If there’s a good graphic, it’s easier to read in color and if there are pictures, I want to see them in color.
Wondering if the existence of DRM is one of the culprits for e-ink reader decline? You can have lots of apps on your tablet device for many publishers/wholesalers so are not as locked in especially if you don’t want to do the side-loading thing but enjoy the wifi shop-to-device benefits. So if the first e-device people read on is their tablet which is sold on the single-device-to-rule-them-all-plan, then I can understand that it is hard to see the virtue of another device even if it easier to read because of screen and lightness.
@SAo: I hope you called Kindle (not Amazon) customer service about it – most kindles last several years, and Amazon has amazing customer service for problems like yours.
I have both the iPAD 2 and Kindle 3. I use both for reading – but when my eyes are tired from working on a computer all day – the kindle always wins. The e-Ink is much easier on the eyes and if I”m reading in a dark room – I just hook it up to my kindle cover which has a light.
I can’t read for long periods of time on a backlit screen, so my ereader will always be needed. Perhaps one day someone will develop a tablet that has both e-ink and regular backlit screen all in one. It has to happen, right?
I love my iPad, and I read on it all the time. Funny, when I’m reading, I never really think about checking e-mail or any of the other things I *could* do on the tablet. And I don’t use it for work at all; it’s my fun device, that’s all. I’m thinking of getting an e-ink reader as well, though, for reading outdoors in the sun. Now that summer is coming, and occasional pleasure reading time that isn’t late at night, that will be a concern.
I’m interested in the bit about Pearson. They have been my education publisher for the last few years, precisely because of their online features that really enhance my courses. But the tech support is weak, the prices are high, and some other publishers are starting to offer similar online options, so I may be changing in the fall.
@Becca
I took my Kindle out of the country. Amazon has nicely sent a replacement to my US address, without waiting to get the bum one back, but until I go to the States, it’s pretty useless. I will note that the cost of securely sending a Kindle to my Russian address probably exceeds the cost of the Kindle, so I didn’t really expect Amazon to do it.
Good to see the Pottermore community doing the right thing. I’ll admit I had bootleg before the store opened just so I could could get my HP fix. Couldn’t be happier now that I have my very own individual copies. People may object to the watermarking but I think it makes them uniquely my own.
I fervently believe that at least one eINK reader will remain available, because with the ageing populace in western countries (or people with eye problems like me), there is no substitute for the lack of glare and crispness of eInk screens yet.
I can’t read for hours on a PC monitor, neither would I be able to on a tablet, etc. etc.