I was listening to the Guardian’s Tech Podcast this morning, and there was coverage of the new Amazon Kindle device that will be shipping in the US later this year, and next in Europe. From the sounds of it, there is another competitor on the block for the tablet/PC/slate/phone/reader showdown that continues to bounce around in today’s consumer tech market.
One of the things that is most notable in what seems to be happening today is that whilst there are a number of companies competing with a similar proposition to users (a device that enables someone to access applications and data, both local and Internet-based), the underlying business models for each of the major competitors are very different. From my (vastly simplified) view:
Apple sell premium-priced hardware and software combined into a single package, and then further monetise by selling content to those devices – either apps or media.
Google give software away to hardware manufacturers, and services away to consumers, and largely monetise through the explotiation of data generated in the use of those devices (mostly via advertising).
Amazon focus on the selling of goods, digital or real world, and have free or cheap hardware and software to support those transactions.
Microsoft sell software and services, both to end users and to hardware manufacturers, and help others to build software to sell to those software platforms.
The fact that there are such different underlying models, and that makes watching what happens so fascinating. Are there any other examples of times when a market has been fought over by companies taking such different business approaches?
mmitII 