The way the current online price war between Wal-Mart, Amazon, Sears and Target is shaping up there is a chance one of them might be paying me to read one of their featured books by Christmas.
It started as a shot off the bow by Wal-Mart to wake up the populace to their online life. Pre-order the top upcoming releases for $10 and free shipping but before you could click the buy button Amazon joined the party and matched the deal. Soon after Target joined the fray. Now less than a week later the price sits at $8.98 at Walmart, $8.99 at Target and $9 at Amazon.
As if the publishing world isn’t in enough disarray now an independent bookstore can order copies of these titles from these retail giants and make more money then if they ordered them directly from the publisher; in effect putting Amazon and the others in the distribution business.
Is it too much of a leap for a similar price war to hit the e-reader world?
I am not sure there are enough early adopters with that much disposable income to make all the players happy. And for ultimate success there has to be mass adoption and that simply won’t happen at the current price levels in today’s economic climate.
Since Barnes & Noble launched the nook into the world earlier this week Amazon has already announced that they are lowering the price of the International Kindle to $259.
By next year’s holiday season, if not sooner, I trust we will be well into a e-reader price war with at least one of the e-readers being offered for less than $100.
I can also see Amazon beginning to offer different Kindle pricing plans to increase their reach.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Amazon offering a plan where they ultimately give away the Kindle, or sell it at low price ($50 or less), and charge the customer a little more for the content. So, instead of an e-book being $9.99 for one who purchased the Kindle outright an e-book might be $12.99 or $14.99 for someone who acquires it at a lesser price or for free.
Yes, all the the other players are capable of such an approach, but Amazon would seem to be the odds on favorite to get there first.
Fasten you seat belt this ride is just starting.