Two sub-boxes in this post box; one is the Matchbook project and second is the personal experience of reading half of "Don Quixote" on the Kindle Paperwhite.
Amazon vs Brick and Mortar: Game Set Matchbook
The Matchbook project from Amazon's perspective is a brilliant idea- stock up 3% that day- and puts clear daylight between the book offerings of Amazon vs that of your Crossword or Landmark. Earlier, the "points of difference" for Amazon vs Brick and Mortar were price, convenience and availability. Now, under the Matchbook project, they are giving you the ebooks for free when you buy print editions. Yet another telling blow to brick and mortar. In 2011, Borders, the second-largest US brick and mortar store, filed for bankruptcy, while the largest, Barnes and Noble, is probably only surviving because it sells the ebook reader Nook, which enables it to do some of the print-book:ebook jugglery.
So will Crossword and Landmark die, or will they become another Indian contradiction to global trends- newspapers dying everywhere but thriving in India, same case with books? If Kindle goes to retail stores like Chroma et al, and demonstrates on paper the superior economy of Kindle over lifetime, then the slow burning Indian Kindle sales become a conflagration.
Big Data @ Ebook/Kindle Paperwhite is nifty
E-readers allow the companies do build up stockpiles of data that could prove to be immensely useful. Two reasons;
1. Book trends. Based on data aggregated from all its Nook readers, B&N realized that people on average tend to dump big non fiction reads halfway through. So, they created "Nook shorts" (or some name like that) to appeal to such readers. The ebook reader guys could sell all these insights to publishers for a handsome buck.
2. Social reading: When I was reading Don Quixote yesterday, Kindle told me 222 users had highlighted one particular section. This social experience makes reading enjoyable- imagine if you could actually see notes made by your Kindle friends appear on the margins. You could actually have a discussion around the book as you read.
The Kindle Paperwhite is a nifty device. Only complaint is that the screen could have been a wee bit bigger- one diagonal inch more. So now, I have bought a Nook (3 years ago) and a Kindle Paperwhite. But Amazon should make its new version release dates clearer- the day after I placed purchase, Amazon announces a new version of the Kindle! Just have one big Apple-like gala man which everyone knows about!
