Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told shareholders on Tuesday that his company’s Kindle would compete with Apple’s iPad by focusing on one thing, reading. The company intends to continue to aim the device at serious readers, and believes that if it does so, it can offer a superior reading experience to other devices, including the iPad.
“There are always ways to do the job better if you are willing to focus in on one arena,” Mr. Bezos said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Bezos also said that Amazon had rejected color LCD displays for the Kindle, and that it would stick with the reflective E-Ink screens developed by E Ink Corporation. The CEO said he has seen color reflective products in the lab, but that such displays are, “not quite ready for production,” and that a Kindle with a color display was “still some way out.”
The Kindle was the first successful dedicated e-reader on the market, and the company had a multi-year lead on Apple when the iPad was released in April. Apple’s iPad has been wildly successful, however, and a survey released May 20th found that iPad owners are reading more newspapers and magazines than owners of other devices, including the Kindle.
Books, however, are Amazon’s main focus for media on the Kindle, and Mr. Bezos told shareholders that he believes the sweet spot for pricing on best-seller books is US$9.99. Though the Journal said he didn’t offer details, Mr. Bezos said that Amazon has seen a shift from books priced over $10 to those priced below $10 since the company gave publishers more power over pricing in April.