Meanwhile, the latest Fortune magazine has a glowing cover story about Amazon’s Kindle, and the launch of the Kindle DX – a large-screen Kindle.

Despite Amazon’s success with the Kindle thus far, the Kindle’s only differentiation at this point is wireless connectivity. Admittedly, the ability to instantly download a title that you’ve heard about on NPR or read about in your morning paper drives unbelievable impulse purchases. And, those impulse purchases, are surely adding to the Kindle’s financial success thus far.

But, that wireless advantage could be short-lived. Ultimately – in the next 18 months – a competitor, Plastic Logic or Sony, will introduce an eReader with wireless connectivity. And, lurking in the background, is the 500 pound gorilla of well-designed consumer electronics – Apple. There have been plenty of rumors about a much larger iPod touch scheduled to be released. Regardless if Apple launches a larger iPod touch, as netbooks continue to grow, smartphones continue to grow, Apple will eventually release a device akin to an iPod touch with a larger form factor.

As eBook devices proliferate and eBook availability continues to expand via Google’s new initiative and others, will consumers continue forking over $359 for an Amazon Kindle? I doubt it.

Who is certain to lose regardless of how the eBook future unfolds? Sadly independent bookstores.

Related posts:

1. Jeff Bezos spoiled my Christmas surprise Jeff Bezos spoiled my Christmas surprise. Bezos never misses an...
2. Napster for eBooks – the eBook Genie is out of the Bottle I’ve written about a Napster for eBooks before. And, unfortunately,...
3. Ebooks Pricing Palooza Though I spend my working hours doing public relations/media relations...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If you’ve read much of this blog, then you know that I’m very interested in the book publishing and especially eBooks. In the mid-90s, before I moved into public relations, I worked in the book publishing industry. I worked for a literary agency in NYC.

This morning, I read a blog post Some eBook Observations by Mike Shatzkin at his Idea Logical blog. I left a comment on his blog. I think his comments are moderated, because I haven’t seen my comment appear yet. But, I also thought my comment would be of interest to people reading this blog too. So here it is.

“Mike,

I have to respectfully disagree with you. I would wager that if you walked into a bookstore today and asked 100 random people to name three specific publishers, you’d be hardpressed to find 10 who could give the names of three. Sure, bibliophiles know the names of HarperCollins, Penguin, or Random House. However, the vast majority of the buying public don’t buy books based on publishers. Instead, they’re interested in buying the new Stephen King, the new Dan Brown, etc. Consumers buy specific authors – or titles – not publishers.

Re: pricing, I also disagree. Many technology pundits have started warning publishers, “Rethink, rethink, rethink, rethink your pricing for books, and if you can’t bring yourself to radically examine your pricing, then you’re headed down the same, sad road as the music industry.” As smartphones continue to multiply, as netbook sales increase, and as the eBook industry continues to grow, the book publishers’ Napster is not far off. Hackers love cracking code, and if eBook prices don’t dramatically decrease, hackers will gleefully crack the eBook DRM out there, and distribute the latest bestsellers via an eBook Napster service.

Sure, there’s printing costs, and sure there’s fixed costs for publishers, but we all know that distributing a digital eBook file costs less than a penny. That’s a concept that someone with zero knowledge of the book industry can grasp, because just about everyone sends attached files via email these days.

Why can’t publishers follow the instincts of the master retailer himself – Sam Walton? I’m paraphrasing, but Walton often said, “I’d rather sell a million pairs of socks, and make a nickel from each pair, than sell 100 pairs of socks and make $100 per pair.” Publishers could dramatically lower the price of eBooks and make up the difference in volume.

Why not sell backlist paperback titles for $1.00 a piece in eBook format – and split the net profit 50/50 with the author? The $1.00, $2.00, $3.00 price point is such an affront to publishers, they won’t even seriously consider it, and they try to justify – with a straight face – charging a trade paperback price for a digital file that cost them basically nothing to distribute.

Realistically though, I don’t see that type of adventurous pricing happening. Amazon is taking a loss on just about every hardcover title they sell on the Kindle for $9.99. Publishers aren’t budging on prices. And, as publishers try to justify their eBook pricing with elaborate explanations and justifications, the hackers are eating pizza, sleeping under their desks, coding around the clock, and the eBook Napster gets closer and closer.”

Related posts:

1. Napster for eBooks – the eBook Genie is out of the Bottle I’ve written about a Napster for eBooks before. And, unfortunately,...
2. Ebooks Pricing Palooza Though I spend my working hours doing public relations/media relations...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I agree with Michael Arrington. Why is Amazon controlling the production of the Kindle? Why not license the technology, provide the digital content for Kindle devices, and let Asian tech manufacturers innovate on a wide range of Kindle devices.

Does Amazon really want to be in the hardware business? Their whole interest here is selling as many digital books as possible. Plus, if Amazon were to give up control of the device’s form factor, maybe we’d get some innovative tech company interested in designing a sleek Kindle that looks and feels as sexy as the Sony Reader or even a MacBook.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

There’s a lot to like about the new Sony Reader – PRS-700 – touch screen, LED for reading in bed or low-light conditions. (As an aside, can someone explain that type of numbered branding to me? Why not call it Sony Reader 3, the Third, Sony Reader – the third chapter. Nope. We’re gonna name it the PRS-700).

But, unfortunately, Sony is missing a key, vital, feature here – there’s no on-board wireless connectivity or built-in Wi-fi. Hence, the title of my post. To get content onto the Sony Reader PRS-700, you have to connect it to your computer. Until Sony incorporates wi-fi or built-in wireless for its 4th generation, they’re going to have a hard time competing with the Amazon Kindle.

Sony is still struggling with content. Sure, they’re supporting ePub, PDF, and other formats. But, they’re still way behind the number of titles available for the Kindle. According to PW’s story today, Sony is planning to increase the number of titles availabe in the Sony Reader store to 100,000 titles from 50,000 now.

However, that still puts them behind the Amazon Kindle by 80,000 titles.

For competition’s sake, I’m excited by the touch features, the LED lighting, and the promised redesigned Sony eBook store. But to truly go head-to-head with Amazon, Sony has to incorporate wireless sooner rather than later.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

A new Sony Reader model with built-in wireless? New deals with publishers to expand the number of available titles?

Are they going to end the Sony Connect software in favor of a web-based platform? The search functionality of Sony Connect still leaves a lot to be desired?

I wonder what Sony will be announcing.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Okay. I’m joking, of course. Plastic Logic is a separate company in no way associated with Amazon – yet. But, they did display a new eReader device with a form factor that Bezos’ design team should be studying intently for the second generation Kindle. Lots of people are writing about Plastic Logic’s demo – here, here and here.

Currently, you can read the New York Times, and many other newspapers and magazines on the Amazon Kindle. But, would you rather read the morning’s New York Times on an airplane or your morning train ride on the cramped Kindle screen or Plastic Logic’s large screen? Plastic Logic’s eReader more closely resembles the typical size of a magazine page vs. the Kindle’s paperback book size.

As much as I love Plastic Logic’s large form factor, I seriously doubt they’ll achieve long-term success, unless Jeff Bezos is on line 1 to discuss a partnership or acquisition. Why so negative?

What’s their content strategy? – Joe Wikert beat me to this argument. But, I want to echo what he said.

I spent some time this morning perusing Plastic Logic’s website and management profiles. Plastic Logic has a huge amount of talent – technology talent. I didn’t see any manager with high profile, deep experience cutting deals with book publishers and other content companies – magazines, etc.

From the Plastic Logic demo, it appears that the company is aiming their reader squarely at the enterprise market. Why limit the device to corporate documents, newspapers, and other business content? Once again, consumers and business people will be forced into a device with a narrow focus.

Unless Plastic Logic execs are hard at work in New York City cutting deals with numerous book publishers to get thousands of front list and backlist novels and non-fiction book, ereader fans are going to face a frustrating choice. They’re going to have to shove their Kindle and their Plastic Logic devices into their briefcase for a flight. After they read their latest sales documents on their Plastic Logic (on a beautiful, large screen), they’ll have to dig out their Kindle to read a science fiction or mystery novel published four or five years ago.

I love the Plastic Logic’s form factor, but I’m seriously concerned about their content strategy. Launching with a few thousand bestselling novels and non-fiction books is just not going to be compelling, especially with 140,000+ books available on the Kindle.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Amazon has up their sleeve for the second generation Kindle, and I think I hear a phone ringing at Plastic Logic’s corporate offices.

Related posts:

1. Jeff Bezos spoiled my Christmas surprise Jeff Bezos spoiled my Christmas surprise. Bezos never misses an...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’m a big fan of the Sony Reader, and I would love to see them succeed. But, I also feel that Sony has to gird for daily battle with Amazon. Jeff Bezos has proven over and over again that he’s willing to invest for the future regardless of Wall Street analysts trashing his decisions for long term success because of their impact on short term profit. (As an investor and someone passionately interested in business, that’s a Wall Street stance I’ve frankly never been able to understand. I guess I’m a value investor at heart. Give me long-term profit and invest for that profit any day over a short-term mindset – trash the company’s long term prospects to eek out good numbers for the quarter).

Back to the Sony Reader, I had an idea this morning about what could lead to a successful rival to Amazon’s Kindle. Drum roll please . . . Sony should seriously consider spinning off the Sony Reader (maintain the Sony brand and the Sony Reader’s stylish design) into a joint venture with Barnes & Noble.

Despite its many critics, I’ve often admired Barnes & Noble and the Riggios’ business acumen. Granted, as someone who loves bookstores of all kinds – locally owned independents, Barnes & Noble, Borders, the Strand, Powell’s, The Tattered Cover, etc. – it pains me to see any small independent bookstore go out of business. But, I also believe that Barnes and Noble has offered a wider selection of books ever available to many of the towns where they have stores. How can that be a bad thing for people passionate about books?

Again, back to the Sony-Barnes & Noble idea, I would guess that Len and Steve Riggio are watching the various Kindle sales estimates with heightened interest. Who knows? Maybe they’re writing off those Kindle owners as customers who would have purchased from Amazon anyway vs. buying a book at Barnes & Noble. So, they may reason that those Kindles really aren’t having much of an impact.

As a bibliophile, I would strongly disagree. I routinely buy buys via Amazon. But, I also love spending an hour or two browsing in Barnes & Noble at least once a week. If I don’t get my Barnes & Noble fix, my wife can tell. And, I routinely buy books at Barnes & Noble. Why? Because the physical bookstore browsing experience still hasn’t been replicated online, and I doubt it ever will.

Historically, Barnes & Noble has struggled with the rise of digital media and the online sales channel. Let’s be honest. If Amazon or any other sizable online bookstore didn’t exist, I’d wager many dollars that there would be no bn.com. Just look back at the launch of BN.com, the financial spin-off of the website, etc. It wasn’t pretty. And, every step of the way, the Riggios were dragged kicking and screaming.

But, at the end of the day, they’re business people who want to compete and succeed. Do they really want to wake up in 2015 and have herds of customers wondering around Barnes & Noble stores armed with their Kindles, discovering new physical books, then downloading them on the fly. I don’t think so!

So, why not take a very calculated risk, cut a deal with Sony now and hit the floor running. Does Sir Howard Stringer really want to be dabbling in the ebook business anyway?

Think about it. Barnes & Noble could create a unique sticker that they slap on every book when it comes out of the box? Buy this book today or download it to your Barnes & Noble-Sony Reader device right now. And, if you really want to think about the possibilities, that sticker could have a readable bar code – or a numerical code or something – that would allow a customer to access and start downloading the ebook with one shot.

And, if you think the barcode idea is farfetched? Seriously bar code technology is hugely popular in Japan and other countries. How hard would it be to release a next generation Sony Reader with a quick inclusion of a bar code reader.

Do you think this will happen? If not, what is Barnes & Noble’s planning to do to combat the rising sales of Amazon Kindles? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

Related posts:

1. Jeff Bezos spoiled my Christmas surprise Jeff Bezos spoiled my Christmas surprise. Bezos never misses an...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

While I agree with much of Gapper’s article, I don’t necessarily agree that all is lost for Sony. However, for the Sony Reader to go head-to-head with the Kindle at this point, it would take a passionate, fanatical executive in charge of the Sony Reader team.

Here’s my prescription for the Sony Reader not to be an also ran vs. the Kindle:

Celebrate the design – Have you seen the Apple vs. PC commercials that have blanketed the TV and web for years now? Sony should follow Apple’s lead and immediately launch a marketing campaign celebrating the Sony Reader’s design vs. the Kindle. Would you rather pull the sleek Sony Reader out when you’re on a plane or in a meeting, or would you rather pull out the Kindle which could be mistaken for a 1980s PC keyboard chopped in half. And, if the Sony Reader team doesn’t have the budget for TV commercials (which I doubt they do), record some video spots on the cheap and get them on the Web tomorrow.

Newspapers-magazines – A Sony Reader contracts exec should buy a tent from REI and camp out in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal offices until they have a digital deal to offer those newspapers on the Sony Reader. And, why stop there? Once those deals are inked, Sony should go straight down the list of the Top 50 (hell the Top 100) newspapers in the U.S. and abroad and get those newspapers – and magazines – available on the Sony Reader yesterday.

Wireless – The next generation Sony Reader HAS to have wireless to compete with the Kindle. Is there a next gen Reader ready for production? Does it have wireless? If not, scrap it now Sony and integrate wireless in whatever next gen Reader you release.

Software – Do you own a Sony Reader? Have you ever connected a Sony Reader to your PC to download books? And, don’t even bother trying to connect your Sony Reader to a Mac, the Sony Connect software for the Sony Reader won’t work on a Mac.

Well, if you have tried the Sony client software for the Sony Reader, that probably has something to do with your early onset balding. You’ll pull whatever hair out of your head trying to use the Sony Reader software. I’m not a software engineer, but this needs serious work. Is it possible to scrap the client software all together and log in via a secure web page for your Reader downloads? Maybe that’s the way to go vs. trying to fix the Sony Connect client.

RSS – Currently, the Sony Reader supports limited RSS feeds. Going back to marketing vs. the Kindle, Sony should be crowing about the fact that they’re not charging for RSS vs. the Kindle’s nickle and diming RSS strategy. Also, open it up. Set up feed software that enables me to grab any RSS feed out there for the Reader – not just the RSS feeds that Sony has chosen.

Additional content – Sony should be adamant about not allowing Amazon to take the lead with more books available. If Amazon announces a new digital rights deal with a publisher that Sony doesn’t have a contract with, that contract exec noted above needs to pull out his tent and prepare to camp out in the publisher’s office until Sony has an equal deal. And, try to take the lead with the number of ebooks available on the Reader vs. the Kindle. Right this minute, there are probably more than a hundred literary agencies in NYC sitting on a goldmine of digital rights. Sony should be meeting with all of those literary agents to get thousands, hundreds of thousands, of long tail, out-of-print novels available for the Sony Reader.

In addition, Amazon has set up a process for authors, and others, to publish their own content digitally and make it available for the Kindle. Sony needs to set up a similar process. Right now, I can load a PDF on my Sony Reader. The formatting doesn’t always work great. But, there should be an easy way that I can upload a PDF and push it to the Sony store – or even push it to other select Sony Reader users. That would be a wonderful selling point for sales forces everywhere. Salespeople would no longer have to carry around briefcases bulging with documents and catalogs. It could all be stored on the salesforce’s Sony Readers.

Short stories – Sony is offering short stories now for the Sony Reader, but they should ramp up that process even faster. There are hundreds of thousands of authors sitting on previously published short stories, and they control the digital rights for those stories. Get those short stories available for the Sony Reader now.

Well, that’s all my ideas for now. Regardless of what happens, it will continue to be interesting to watch Sony’s competition against Amazon. Sony may have taken a few lumps, but they’re not out of the game by any means.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’m actually surprised at those numbers. Sure, Amazon has done a pretty good job of marketing the Kindle. And Amazon has an advantage that any online marketer would kill for – the Amazon home page – front and center and above the fold.

I don’t have a Kindle, but I’ve played around with one my friend has. I’m not wild about eInk. I have a first-gen Sony Reader. My biggest complaint about eInk is that I can’t read the darn thing in bed without fiddling around with an awkward book light. That’s why I continue to use my old Gemstar eBook. The Gemstar eBook is still around thanks to the guys at Fictionwise. It’s now called the eBookwise – 1150, but except for a few minor tweaks it’s the same as my Gemstar.

The Kindle’s true killer app is the built-in Sprint wireless connection. If you hear or read about a book you’re interested, the eBook is only one click away on your Kindle (provided of course that the Kindle eBook version is available).

However, I will be very interested to see where the prices for Kindle books end up. Right now, most new hardcover titles are available on your Kindle for $9.99. And, for many of those titles, Amazon is selling them for a loss. How happy will Kindle owners be when those prices start going up?

Frankly, eBook pricing just doesn’t make sense. The pricing is based on a physical book, and it’s a price based on buying paper, ink, printing, cover art for a physical book. When distributing an eBook costs pennies (or less than a penny) how does that antiquated pricing make sense?

And, given the lower distribution cost of selling a digital eBook, why don’t publishers lower the prices for eBooks, sell more books, and make more money in volume. That’s certainly the model that worked for Wal-Mart – lower prices and make money on volume.

Related posts:

1. Napster for eBooks – the eBook Genie is out of the Bottle I’ve written about a Napster for eBooks before. And, unfortunately,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Well, actually I’m late in actually writing a blog, but I’ve been actively involved with new media and blogs since they became widely known as blogs in 2002 or so. I work in the public relations industry, and in 2002 I was working at Trylon SMR. My team at Trylon SMR was at the forefront of pitching blogs. Yet, we prided ourselves on intelligent pitching – sending bloggers info that they would specifically care about.

As  a result, we had a lot of success. Now, most of those co-workers at Trylon SMR have moved on to other PR firms in NYC. And, back in September 2006, I started my own PR consulting firm – Jeff Rutherford Media Relations. And, now I’m starting this blog.

What am I going to blog about? Well, I’m not 100% sure. But here are a few things. I’m passionate about the book publishing industry – and specifically the future of eBooks. I still have and use my old Gemstar Rocket eBook, and I have a Sony Reader as well. And, this past weekend, I downloaded Fictionwise’s eReader for my iPhone.

I haven’t bought an Amazon Kindle yet. The form factor of the Kindle still bothers me. Jeff Bezos is obviously in it to win it, so why would he turn his back on compelling design? Despite what any one may argue, Apple is still the undisputed leader in compelling design of consumer electronics and computers. Would Steve Jobs have approved the Kindle? We all know the answer to that one. He would have sent Bezos scurrying back to his cubicle following a horrible tongue lashing if he would have had the temerity to present the current Kindle design in a meeting.

So, this blog will probably spend some time exploring the future of eBooks, the future of book publishing as a whole. In my spare time, I’m a passionate reader – fiction, non-fiction, newspapers, magazines, and cereal boxes if nothing else is at hand. 

What have I read lately? I just finished The Film Club by David Gilmour – a recent memoir about a Canadian journalist who spent several years watching movies with his son after the son dropped out of high school. I enjoyed this book, but I couldn’t stop thinking about and anticipating watching a lot of these classic movies with Zachary, my son who is 4 1/2 years old.

Hit and Run by Lawrence Block. Do you enjoy crime novels? If so, have you read Block’s three novels re: Keller, a hitman who is passionate about stamp collecting. If not, run, don’t walk to your nearest library or bookstore. Block is a master, and I guess that’s why he’s scheduled to receive a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America soon.

So, this initial post has gone on long enough. Stay tuned for more . . .

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.