Could the iPad be the best thing to happen to Amazon? Although a debate has raged over what impact Apple’s tablet device could have on the Seattle-based e-book leader, Amazon could actually benefit from the iPad, a Friday report suggests. Despite a wide-held opinion that the iPad is a more flexible platform, Amazon could sell more e-books to iPad owners than Apple.
“If you’re an iPad buyer, chances are about 90 percent that you’re also a book buyer on Amazon,” Forrester analyst James McQuivey told the Wall Street Journal. Unlike Apple’s launch of the iPod or iPhone, where the Cupertino, Calif. company started with iTunes and the App Store pre-installed, iPad buyers can choose whether to install Apple’s iBooks or another e-book app, such as Amazon’s Kindle app.
Another potential advantage for Amazon, according to the report, is the existing connection the online retailer has formed with both the publishing industry and e-book buyers. The music and video industry has long admired Apple’s ability to tap into the millions of credit card accounts stored on iTunes. Amazon has a similar advantage with e-books, and more. While Apple will launch the iPad with 60,000 e-book titles available from five publishers, Amazon can sell 450,000 e-books along with offering 1.8 million free out-of-copyright versions.
Despite all of the bantering between CEOs on the iPad’s impact, the iPad and Kindle may become allies as e-book consumers choose Apple’s platform and Amazon’s experience. That idyllic image could be shattered, however, if Apple begins including iBooks pre-installed on future iPads, making the tablet the oft-cited third leg of the stool for Cupertino’s dominance of another sphere of media.
[via Wall Street Journal]
