Yo,

I’m working on a way to crush the e-reader. I’m going up against companies such as Amazon, Sony and Barnes & Noble, but I’m also in a slightly different market. Each of those listed competitors has placed their resources into digital ink as the future medium of how we consume published writings: books, newspapers, ect.

You’ll notice that these companies are trying to merely digitize what is already commonly available. Amazon in particular has an ambitious goal for their Kindle:” Every book printed, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds. It’s great concept. I think they’re aiming to be the leader in digital books, following in the footsteps of Apple, who is indisputably the leading in digital music.

However, Amazon et. al., are trying to replicate the printed book a bit too much. They’re spending resources to find the digital ink that best replicates the text of a printed book. I’m a huge believer that innovation is what drives our future. In fact, Bill Gates said, “Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short of time.” If you can ignore the “so”s, and discover the message behind the words, you’ll find that he’s encouraging the creation of new technologies. If you recall that Gates’ simply took an existing technology, DOS, and tweaked it a bit to create MS-DOS, you should conclude that sometimes the best technologies are existent, but are not reaching their fullest potential.

I plan to take on Amazon et. al, by utilizing familiar technologies in a different application. Mind you, in this process, the channel by which the media is delivered is unique, hence an innovative solution.

Changing gears a bit, let’s look at the impact of channel versus product/content. In terms of value proposition to customers, there are two separate components:

1) The product/content they get.

2) The channel they get it through - the convenience, ease of access, ect.

At any given time, there is always a struggle between companies that provide the channel and the companies that provide the content/product.

a) Some stores associate themselves with the best choices at the best cost. (i.e. Target)

b) Some stores associate themselves with the most valuable, desirable products. (i.e. Nike)

The product for news companies is the news content, regardless of how it’s published.

The channels are:

1.    Newsprint

2.    Television

3.    Printed Magazines

4.    The Internet

5.    iPhone, Kindle and other mobile devices.

For any of these channels, either the publishers own the channel or they don’t.

When they don’t, it’s in the best interests of the channel owner to play down (and even actively destroy) the value assigned to news.

This destruction of value is actually a reassigning of value i.e. the channel becomes more and more important. It works best when there is a single company that owns the channel.

The most profitable channel is the one that makes the product seem worthless and the channel seem invaluable.

Channel owners can make content ‘worthless’ and at the same time, use customers consuming this ‘worthless content’ to generate profits.

Channel Owners are trying to create Content Sources

Look at all the websites search engine companies are buying or creating i.e.

1. Microsoft is creating Live Spaces for content, PhotoSynth for photos, and so forth.

2. Yahoo bought Flickr, they bought Geocities, and so forth.

These companies eventually intend to produce their own content (or have user-generated content) and completely marginalize quality content creators.

They are doing their part to take over the channel and the product.

Back to how I’m about to take on Amazon, Sony, and Barnes & Noble, and effectively take on the e-reader.

Three main ideals must remain:

1) The brand image must remain with the publisher

2) The channel in which the content is delivered must become the starting point for the content.

3) The overall process must be platform-based.

I’m confident that I’ll be able to take on the big e-reader manufactures, simply because their focus in not in the right area. I’m looking to bring the benefits of exiting technologies to allow for improved media interaction.

Peace,

Brandon Layland