App Store Overload? Kindle Gets An App Store
from the it-ain't-the-web dept
It's amazing how people see one semi-successful concept and suddenly everyone has to pile on. The iPhone's app store has certainly been a success -- much more in terms of making the iPhone more attractive than for most developers. But it has all sorts of people thinking that "apps" are in again, and we're seeing app stores pop up in a variety of different places. The latest is Amazon's Kindle, which hopes to make the ebook reading device more valuable with more apps.It does make me wonder, though, if people are betting too strongly on app stores, and not recognizing why it works so well in some areas. I also wonder if focusing on apps and app stores is going to make people miss out on the fact that web-based apps (that don't need to go through any app store) may overtake client-side apps. We've already gone through this on the desktop, and one by one, web-based apps have come along that match (or sometimes exceed) the functionality of client-side apps, leading many to turn away from client apps altogether.
Separately, adding another app store to another device may only serve to confuse (or annoy) some users. If you have an iPhone and a Kindle, and there are the same apps on both, which are you going to use? It may depend on the app, but my guess is that in most cases the phone is going to win out over an ebook reader.
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Filed Under: apps, client side, developers, iphone, kindle, web apps
Companies: amazon, apple
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Well, whichever one the user sees the most value and flexibility in, for a price they deem acceptable. So yeah, probably the iPhone.
I would imagine that this will parallel the competition in the home console industry. Who buys the same content twice? Makes no economic sense.
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Does anyone actually buy apps?
How many people have both a kindle and iphone?
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Actually the appstore part is the least interesting news from Amazon today
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1376977&a mp;highlight
Amazon is offering authors a 70% royalty fee if they release their books on the Kindle without intervention from publishers.
It seems more interesting to me, than any appstore.
Only this part makes me concerned though:
- "Under this royalty option, books must be offered at or below price parity with competition, including physical book prices."
In other words: no, you can't have your book on the Kindle and the Nook for the same price.
But I guess Amazon would like to get a vice grip on the fledgling market.
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Re: Actually the appstore part is the least interesting news from Amazon today
That one quote you pulled out seems anti-competitive. Is it legal for one distribution channel to control the pricing in another?
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For example, I often had issues finding software for my Windows Mobile based phone. The software I did find did not always make the best use of the phone (there were only a few apps that made use of the accelorometer for example). I never once paid for any applications for it.
I now have an Android phone with an Apps store. The quality of the applications strikes me as much higher, and are far easier to access and install - as well as there being more of them! I have actually purchased several apps now. It is convinient, quick, and Google offer 24 hours in which I can get a refund if the app does not work or I don't like it!
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no, but you can download a large selection of apps for the kindle iphone app from the kindle iphone app store.
what really interests me is an iphone app for the kindle.
it would be really great if apps bought from the iphone kindle app store were compatible with apps from the kindle iphone app store. but you will probably have to download an app to convert those apps.
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TCO
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As for apps on the Kindle, they would have to be something that related to reading, and not "opportunity" information - that would be more useful on the iPhone, as I have that with me everywhere.
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So, the phone won.
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web-apps vs client-apps
If you look at a typical iPhone app its both at the same time. Most apps are built like interactive webpages (xml+javascript) and they often use ajax-like mechanisms for communicating with a server-application that provides additional services.
The Kindle app-store will be a success if its easy to port iPhone apps (the widget type) to a Kindle. Otherwise they will have a hard time attracting developers.
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App Store Achilles Heel - Power and Platform Openness
Apple has been able to succeed with their app store far beyond what it should have by using artificial controls. They don't allow interpreted code (flash, java, etc.) to run on the phone. Take that away, and the app store wouldn't be near the force it is today.
As these devices get more powerful, the need for highly customized/tuned code is reduced - Internet or hybrid apps start to make more sense, can support more devices and so on. At first, 'app-philes' (i.e. audiophiles types for applications), will want a dedicated app, but the Internet ones will get better and finally start to take over.
I think app stores will come and go fairly quickly as long as market forces force the players to allow java, flash, and so on to run on these devices, and the devices continue to get more powerful.
Freedom
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microtransactions
I think it was from http://www.cracked.com/article_17142_5-ways-common-sense-lies-to-you-everyday.html article, if I remember correctly. The $5 vs 5x 1$ bills thing.
It just shows that amazon is not above taking advantage of people to make a buck. Yay for capitalism.
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You want apps on an e-reader?
http://developer.irexnet.com/pub/
I've had my iLiad for more than 1 1/5 years. Still happy!
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Where Did I Read...?
"I see the dedicated reader market fading in the future, much as PDAs did. Not that they're not in demand, but the dedicated Readers will evolve and be subsumed into general-purpose tablets"
Oh, yeah, it was here:
http://techdirt.com/article.php?sid=20100114/1603307765&threaded=true&sp=1
I suppose it wasn't that hard to see it coming, and many people probably did. Amazon is preparing for upcoming competition from Apple and other multi-functional tablets.
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The Amazon and Kindle brands were destroyed when they did their digital book burnings last year.
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GPS on Kindle
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Kindle become a hit !!
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Iphone Store
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app stores
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App Mkt saturation?
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