Amazon and the Kindle
Over at TechCrunch, there’s a post on what Amazon should do if they really want to get serious about the Kindle. The gist of the recommendation is that they should sell the software to a bunch of OEMs, who’ll create new, compatible devices, and make money on the book sales.
Of course, this is what people have been telling Apple to do since forever – a road that Apple has consistently and doggedly refused to go down. With the Mac, iPod/iTunes and now iPhone, Apple have shown that there is great value in having integrated control over the entire hardware, software and web service stack.
If Amazon were to take a leaf from Apple’s book, they would try to keep the entire platform to themselves, and consistently and iteratively improve the quality of the device, content and service.
While I haven’t used the Kindle, I’ve read plenty of positive things about it (despite its butt-ugly looks). It’ll be interesting to see how this evolves, and whether Amazon tries to market the Kindle outside the US.