Digital Home Thoughts: Kindle Is Not Just An eBook Reader Anymore

"Some of the parallels that people draw between the digital transformation of the publishing industry and the music industry—the preferred reference point, since it maps over the most neatly—are a stretch. Paper books aren't going anyway anytime soon. But digital publishing is now at the same kind of inflection point the music industry was at few years ago: Disposable devices vs. sustainable platforms."

In some ways, I think that Matt Buchanan has a point. The Kindle, as what it is turning out to be is much more a platform than an actual device. However, I do believe that claiming that the Kindle is a more open system is a fallacy. Yes, the eBooks are not limited to a specific piece of hardware, but it is restricted to the Kindle ecosystem. While that ecosystem is not restricted to one manufacturer, it is limited to an overall supervisor. The concept of a supervisor is not bad, as it is necessary for publishers to feel more comfortable in releasing their eBooks on a particular platform, and it also gives the customer a single point of contact for any problems or concerns. Will the Kindle succeed against the newly launched iBooks? Possibly. It would be nice if the purchasing infrastructure was spread out more so no single company has significant control over the distribution network, no matter how much that company might be trusted. I recall reading reports of how Walmart, one of the major sellers of CDs (Remember those?) was able to get music labels to change the lyrics and art to some songs and CDs as they wanted something more family friendly. That kind of control is scary.