Richard Sarnoff, chairman of the Association of American Publishers, recently spoke against the duopoly currently shaping up to be the online book reading market. According to Sarnoff, the court ruling between Google and book publishers last October has made entering the market a difficult proposition.
Google Books
Google’s game, in particular, has set up a virtual stranglehold for digitized books. First, it pays publishers for the rights to scan every book it can get its hands on. Then, it sets up deals to display the books (in whole or in part, depending on the agreement) alongside Adsense ads, splitting the revenue two ways between them.
Sarnoff’s main beef appears to be the impossibility of any upstart online publisher to provide a similarly lucrative platform for publishers to get their wares displayed. In reality, the concern is right – no one’s going to come out of the gate and challenge Google by copying the exact same model, especially considering the fact that the search giant is doing it so well.
Anybody who wants to put up a good fight against Google Books will have to be doubly creative – something web services have been able to be time and time again. I, personally, see no problem with the setup. If you want to gain marketshare then bring me something new!
Amazon
The beef with Amazon wasn’t so clear but I’d assume it has to do with two things: Amazon’s “click to read inside” thing which allows potential buyers to see a few pages of the book before making a decision and the seriously awesome Kindle (now Kindle 2). The book preview Amazon provides isn’t really as overwhelming as Google’s offering so I doubt it should be that serious a competition.
Kindle, on the other hand, might be a whole new story. It’s easy to see how Amazon can corner the ebook reading market, provided they’re willing to push the Kindle 2 out to places that are not called USA. While other ebook readers can read pretty much any online document, Amazon has the exclusive convenience of its online store pushing current titles out to its device at prices much cheaper than bookstore fare.
I don’t live in the US and I’m picking up a Kindle as soon as they ship to my city – that’s how awesome I think the service is. Will it be difficult for other ePaper makers – from Sony to Plastic Logic – to penetrate the market when Kindle 2 does go worldwide? Yes. Do I have a problem with it? No. Hell, I’m sure Sony can flex some of that cash they’ve wasted on the PS3 to set up their own publisher deals. They’d probably rather just fold up the Sony Reader than do it, though.
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