De-mystifying the Amazon Kindle
Amazon had quite a bit of attention when they announced that they would ship the Kindle to Europe and the rest of the world. Since then, many people ask us “How can you compete against them?” – so let’s have a look at the common questions:
“The Kindle only costs $259. That’s so much cheaper than the txtr reader.”
Not the entire truth – When ordering the Kindle from Europe, taxes, customs, and shipping costs apply – pushing the total cost to approximately €280! (And you don’t even get a charger that fits into European electricity plugs)
“Amazon has 300.000 e-books available in the store, much more than anyone else!”
Well, Amazon has many English-language titles, but so far not a single German or international title available! For German e-books, txtr has the leading offer and works wit the widest array of publishers and aggregators.
“Books are cheaper on the Kindle, they only cost $9.99, that’s about €6.80!”
True, e-books are cheap in the US, but, again, that’s only English-language books distributed in the US. You will find that many English e-books are just as cheap in the txtr store - and for the German titles we are bound to the fixed book prices (Buchpreisbindung) that German publishers have agreed upon and so is Amazon. This means that Amazon will not be allowed to cut e-book prices in Germany.
“Amazon is so powerful they will kill any competitor, especially small companies like txtr.”
Ok, fair enough, Amazon IS a powerful distribution channel, but be aware: The Kindle is also LIMITED to Amazon as a distributor. Txtr will work with many retailers, mobile operators and consumer electronic retailers – Combine all these and you get a much stronger distribution than Amazon alone.
“Amazon will put pressure on publishers and always have the widest selection of e-books on the planet.”
That’s actually the reason why publishers are keen to build up serious competion to the Kindle. While Amazon has a lead in the US, each European publisher we have talked to has assured to make the same titles available to us as they do to Amazon.
Hallo, ich glaube, Ihr seid nicht gut beraten, Euch auf diese Weise mit Amazon zu vergleichen und hoffe, dass dies nicht die “offizielle” Marketingstrategie ist. Betont lieber die Features, bei denen andere nicht mithalten können.
Gruß,
Thorsten
Hi,
ich kann meinem Vorredner Thorsten nur zustimmen und seinen Kommentar verstärken.
Völlig unverständlich ist mir auch, warum dieser Blogeintrag in Englisch geschrieben ist, wo er sich eindeutig an die deutsche Kundschaft richtet.
Konzentriert euch darauf, im Dezember ein Super-Produkt auf den Markt zu bringen, dann hat sich die Diskussion schnell erledigt!
Beste Grüße
Bernd
Vor allem frage ich mich was das Argument mit dem Preis bringen soll. So what? 280€ gegen 320€ für den txtr. Das sind 40€ Unterschied, dafür werden auf offener Straße schon Omas überfallen…
Hallo, ich finde den Vergleich zwar ganz informativ.
Jedoch stimmte ich mit Bernd 100% überein, dass man hier lieber Deutsche Artikel schreiben sollte.
Immerhin will man ja hauptsächlich den deutschen Markt ansprechen.
Viele Grüße
Stefan
This will kill the kindle!
Unsere Anmerkung zum Mythos Kindle:
http://open-ebook.de/txtr-verbaler-angriff-auf-amazon-kindle/
viele Grüße, Markus
I like what I see with the Txtr. This device will not even be comparable to the Kindle. I know this device is marketed mostly for Germany, but what will be the response for the new “Barnes & Nobles Nook” e-reader? It is the same price as the Kindle but does alot more than it.