Amazon Purchases NY Based Touchco to Compete with Apple?

I find it curious that Amazon is taking the fight to Apple. In my professional opinion this is an unfair match -- with Amazon being on the losing side. Perhaps therein lies the problem -- Amazon is no longer the giant in this space. Yes, agreed Apple started the fight with the combination of price matching and service (iBook Store). Then to add insult to injury Macmillan gets cozy with Apple so I understand Amazon's need to attack.

And Steve Jobs wasn't being coy about it, saying this morning: "Amazon's done a great job of pioneering this functionality with the Kindle. We're going to stand on their shoulders and go a little further."

-Jennifer Van Grove, Mashable

I just feel that Amazon has the wrong strategy in play. Let's take a quick look at the some of the specifications:

Amazon Kindle DX

• Price: $489.00


• Display: 9.7" (16 shades of grey); 824 × 1200 pixels pixel resolution


• CPU: Freescale 532 MHz i.MX31L


• Touch Screen: None


• Connection: Amazon Whispernet (3G)


• Applications: scheduled for later this year


• Productivity Suite: None


• Intended Purpose: eBook Reader

Apple iPad

• Price: $499.00 (model: iPad Wi-Fi 16 GB)


• Display: 9.7" LED-backlit with IPS


• CPU: 1 GHz Apple A4


• Touch Screen: Yes


• Connection: Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 3G


• Applications: Over 140, 000


• Productivity Suite: Apple iWork


• Intended Purpose: Media Tablet

Looking at this small list of specifications the iPad is a superior device. So how will Amazon fight back? Well, in a bold move Amazon has reportedly purchased a startup company -- Touchco. Oddly enough the company web site states:

Thank you for your interest in Touchco. As of January 2010, the company is no longer doing business.

Touchco is working with an impressive multi-touch technology. These panels are not only inexpensive, less than $10 a square foot, they are pressure sensitive and will react to "an unlimited number of simultaneous touch points." The technology is known as -- interpolating force-sensitive resistance (or IFSR). The IFSR pads will work with color LCD screens. So the next generation Kindle could be a color display with the multi-touch technology. As of this post Amazon will be merging the two teams -- Lab126 (Kindle team) and Touchco.

As I write this post I am arguing with myself. Should Amazon pursue this course of action or would they be better off repacking the current content and offering some remarkable services? These benefits would keep current customers buying eBooks while attracting new ones. Listen, Amazon has a wealth of services that can be bundled into the Kindle experience -- cloud computing/storage, the MP3 store and Netflix. Yes, obviously if Amazon is to compete in this space it must update the Kindle -- IFSR and a color display are a good start. I strongly believe that a combination of the "Kindle 3" and quality content would keep Amazon competitive. Bezos is a very smart man but I would love to see what he is planning as his next move.

My prediction is that Bezos will have a "Kindle 3" with a multi-touch color display. He will (re)package content -- cloud computing/storage and the MP3 store and Netflix or a combination of the three. People will buy the Kindle but it will not be the device it once was. The question still begs -- Will it be enough to compete against the Apple machine?

 

Follow Ramon Nuez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ramonbnuezjr

Comments

[hopefull2008]

08:02 PM on 02/08/2010

So you think that it's Apple versus Amazon. What about Google's reader/tablet , android tablets, all the other e-readers out there ? You seem to have a very narrow view of the world.

[Ramon Nuez]

11:47 PM on 02/08/2010

"Very narrow view of the world?" On the contrary I understand that tablet space rather well. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the tablet market is rather barren -- Apple is the only contender at the moment. It's not because of its hardware (either) -- content is king. Today there is no company that can compete with Apple on this level; not even Amazon.

Today the Kindle is an appliance and not a tablet. We will have to wait and see what Bezos does with Lab126 and Touchco. My guess is that we will see a tablet by years end.

As far as Google's tablet that is still yet to be seen. And for the Android platform -- well it still has some growing up to do. Again it has less to do with hardware and OS -- content is a key factor.

[inksreporter]

05:28 AM on 02/08/2010

I agree things don't look for Amazon - but so much depends on how the iPad performs. Even then, Apple's brand ubiquity might make it the victor with an inferior product. I mean - Apple command a cult. How can Amazon hope to compete unless they offer something unquestionably superior? And I doubt they have the hardware experience to make such a device.

[Ramon Nuez]

02:57 PM on 02/08/2010

I agree the iPad success is dependent on content. We know that the hardware is superior -- well at least for now. I think that for the moment Apple appears to have a huge lead in the space.

The price point must be addressed. I think that the high price will keep many people away. I was just speaking with a co-worker and he explained that there is a rumor that Apple is reconsidering its pricing plan. I think if Apple knocked off $150 -- the iPad would sell very well. It would become viral.

[Eris23]

04:09 PM on 02/08/2010

I'm not quite sure that I agree with you that the iPad's hardware is superior. For the purposes of reading, I'd say that it isn't. The Kindle is a lot easier on the eyes when it comes to reading text and has a longer battery life. For a book reader, that is a better benefit than a big color screen.

[Matthew Putman]

07:59 AM on 02/05/2010

Strictly based on features there is no question that you are right. There are two questions though that we will need to have answered before we can say it is a better e-reader than the Kindle.
1. Battery life- When reading the annoyance of having to recharge is enormous. The Kindle has great battery life, and that is a huge.
2. Will the text be as easy on the eyes as the Kindle. Even though flipping pages on the i-PAD seems like it will be much better than Kindle, we will have to see about the print itself.
I am looking forward to i-PAD, but reading a book is such a long term commitment, and important one to so many of us, that these details mean a lot.

[ramonbnuezjr]

09:44 AM on 02/05/2010

On your first point I could not agree with you more. This is a crucial feature for the iPad. Yes, Jobs claims 10 hours of usage and one month of standby time. I don't think he would make such claims if they were not true -- well that's my hope. Industry insiders are already doubting Jobs' statement since the IPS technology in the iPad display is a power hog.

On you second question -- LCDs are generally hard on the eyes and the e-ink technology in the Kindle is design specifically for that purpose -- to be easy on the eyes.

With that said we it's really all conjecture until we have the iPad in our hands.

[planetmango]

11:30 PM on 02/05/2010

I have the Kindle for iPhone app and reading books on that is quite nice. I just read four books in a row on it and no eye strain at all. As for battery life, when I'm reading in lower light I can turn the brightness of the iPhone screen down to 50% or even a little lower. This lowered brightness level is actually more more comfortable in less than bright rooms. This will be one trick to pull more battery life out of the iPad, but obviously we're still talking a lot less time than the Kindle.

I'm betting the iPad will be plenty comfortable to read on, but obviously not all will agree. And that's why it's good we have choices. I'm also thinking that the iPad will get used a whole lot more than a Kindle would because it does a lot more. We'll all get used to topping off the charge and it probably won't be that big of a deal.

[yogandclimber]

02:50 PM on 02/08/2010

The kindle screen is old and they won't be keeping their current screen.

•Display: 9.7" (16 shades of grey); 824 × 1200 pixels pixel resolution
•Touch Screen: None

When kindle get's a new touchscreen then the kindle faithful and apple haters will like it. My bet is it's going to look a lot like this: www.apple.com. I doubt they will be asking for the old screen back and hopefully has the same features and if it's better than the iPad then that's great and I'll get it, but they have a while to go.

[Ramon Nuez]

03:12 PM on 02/08/2010

True.

Bezos is a smart man and we will see a color multi-touch Kindle. I want to say by the Christmas shopping season but that might be a stretch. If that does not happen then we are most definitely looking at a "Kindle 3" at CES 2011.

I still don't think it will contend with the iPad. Now the Google Tablet -- that will be interesting.