Amazon, The Best and Foremost Enemy of Apple Part.IV

Material on which Amazon released a very comfortable margin of 48%: for a little over three years, the bookseller hybrid business model to be closer to that of Apple. The next step, which should confirm this transition, the tablet will Kindle, announced by the rumor and, as it confirmed by Jeff Bezos. While Apple's closed ecosystem with software and services, Amazon goes in the opposite direction and will close with hardware ... Android. Amazon has not cluttered with the creation of an OS in a few months, it has privatized virtually a third OS to be able to offer almost a clean version.

Amazon was a partner in the first hour of Google: the couple face + iTunes iPhone, the firm of Mountain View has used Amazon as a content provider for Android Smartphones. Amazon MP3 application, installed on all or most Smartphones Android and not far from impossible to remove, serves as equivalent of the iTunes Store.

Amazon obviously has its own applications on Android, but the company goes further in recent months, it operates its own application store for Android. The Amazon AppStore, it is called, is a true rival to the Android Market: it has a mechanism of editorial control, offers a free daily application fee, and even allows testing applications directly into the browser through an Android emulator!

Amazon has enough weight to have managed to bend the AT & T, which ultimately allowed the installation of third-party shopping for Android users can download the Amazon AppStore. Google is certainly a well-known brand in the United States and elsewhere, but Amazon is less familiar and has the advantage of being established for a long time. Kindle said the company's presence in the material, while the family is eclipsed by Nexus brand Droid operator Verizon. At the selection on the eve of the holiday season, Amazon could buy up the ante with a shelf under a Kindle Android in which it is deeply integrated.

A tablet may be the best competitor of the iPad, but also, paradoxically, its greatest ally against the other tablets Android - found the game at three music stores. Amazon certainly seems to be the worst enemy of Apple...

Amazon, The Best and Foremost Enemy of Apple Part.III

With icloud, Apple may, however, go far beyond the Cloud Drive. Amazon is focusing effect on media content, where Apple offers various services in addition to "productivity" (email, calendars, contacts, files synchronization, etc). Amazon then simply create a digital record, while Apple was able to convince record labels and management companies of copyright to allow the download multiple purchases or duplication of an iTunes library.

Apple takes the advantage because she thought the solution in the cloud as an extension of its equipment, as part of a full circle closed ecosystem. Amazon also has a closed ecosystem: the Kindle (designed by Lab126 ... in Cupertino). It is difficult to measure the success of Kindle and its associated download platform, Amazon do not provide sales figures, but it is undeniable.

Kindle and iPod are similar: they have succeeded where others have failed with a formula not necessarily new, but distinctive hardware and an integrated software platform available at the right time (technological convergence and preparing the public for the idea). The iPod had a hard drive, the wheel and then iTunes FairPlay DRM, the Kindle screen eIink had its modern, its persistent and 3G as well as its free Kindle Store and a closed file format. In many ways, it has demonstrated the viability of the eBook.

Apple today hunting on the lands of the Amazon with iPad and iBookstore, as do other manufacturers, but from Amazon in this market is 90% (although it is in rapid decline and to fall to 70-75% by the end of the year). In the same way as iTunes, Safari or icloud is available on Windows, you can access the Kindle platform on many devices. Amazon has understood before others, and just as Apple, the central content at low prices and high volume ("set an aggressive price and go for volume" said Steve Jobs): the logical step after that 'we bought books on the Kindle Store, readable only through the application Kindle, is to buy a Kindle.

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Amazon, The Best and Foremost Enemy of Apple Part.II

Amazon's strategy could not be further from that of Apple, who swears by the gross margin, but the two companies come together on several issues, starting with the extreme loyalty of their customers. Better roads Amazon and Apple seem to be closer to the point of cross soon: as Apple has expanded the distribution and service (iTunes Store, App Store, icloud), Amazon’s has ventured into the field equipment (Kindle, a tablet soon). Soon, the two companies may well be in direct competition: each will have a complete ecosystem of distributing content to custom equipment designed and equipped with built-in software.

Amazon launched its music store in late 2007, more than four years after the opening of the iTunes Store. The lack of DRM, the highest quality and lower prices than iTunes Store helped catch up: Amazon has quickly become a viable number two, at least in the United States. The size of the catalogs of the two shops is now similar (14 to 16 million according to the counts): Amazon is characterized by regular lower prices, and generally a more flexible fee schedule, while Apple is known to afford some exclusives (the Beatles to name a few).

Jeff Bezos's company managed to consolidate its position as she was only 4% of purchases of digital music in the United States in early 2008, it now accounts for 11.6% of the market. This growth is currently not at the expense of iTunes, solid leader slight increase, reaching 70% market share. In a sense, Amazon helps strengthen Apple, eliminating weaker competitors such as Rhapsody, but Amazon is growing quickly: Apple may need to be wary.

Amazon's business practices are in fact just as formidable as in the early days. For the promotion of Amazon MP3 and its natural extension, the Cloud player, Jeff Bezos has not hesitated to sacrifice millions of dollars to provide music for song bread and gain new customers. Obviously the transaction cost as much as a traditional advertising campaign, with a different conversion rate.

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Amazon, The Best and Foremost Enemy of Apple Part.I

It is frequently contrasted with Apple to Microsoft, Apple and more recently in Google. Amazon is to forget: in many ways, the firm of Jeff Bezos is perhaps the most formidable competitor to Apple, the electronic book to digital music, sales of applications for sale of equipment.

Amazon-smile, The fictionalized story of Apple based much of its current image: the return of the prodigal son has helped to revive the phoenix from the ashes, to replay the scene of the Macintosh iPod, iPhone and iPad and iTunes in the background. Less well known is the story of Amazon, so it is no less exciting.

Founded in 1994 and launched in 1995, Amazon.com is designed as the "largest bookseller in the world" free from physical constraints, the site was ambitious to sell more books than all its competitors combined. Its founder, Jeff Bezos, quickly launched an ambitious acquisition policy, increasing the acquisition of electronic bookstores (Bookpages, future Telebook and Amazon UK, Amazon DE future, in 1998, Audible in 2000) and many and varied many Internet services (IMDb, Wise in 1998, Alexa in 1999, several management systems in 1999 and 2000).

Amazon's business model has long been atypical in the first version scribbled by Jeff Bezos, it was not about generating profits, but simply to attract capital (the company goes public in 1997) and grow fast enough to reach many markets. The competitive advantage allows it to keep prices low. The genius of Bezos was to take calculated risks: to provide the delivery is a dead loss, but can attracting customers and hope to sell enough to generate a high margin on volume. This set of communicating vessels is the trademark of Amazon.

After years of losses as investors impatient and have to find all the patches available to present the results at their best, the activity becomes profitable Amazon bookstore in mid-2000 before all the activities going on green end of 2001. The demonstration is striking: 80% of sales are made by regular customers, who then spend about € 30 a month on Amazon.

Consolidation accounting rules, limiting or omitting certain practices disguising costs, Amazon is in the red board? Bezos offers delivery and conceded large reductions: sales explode and losses are reduced by half. Amazon MP3 should be promoted and its companion Cloud Drive? Jeff Bezos's company made loss of $ 2.6 million in selling off the last album in fashion; But earned nearly half a million users.

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