The Boomer Blog

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Editorial: How Amazon Will Retain Boomers – even if they buy Apple’s iPads Posted: 17 Jun 2010 08:54 AM PDT By Guest Blogger Stephen Reily, Founder of VibrantNation.com. Vibrant Boomer women are responsible for more book-buying than any other demographic, but new research suggests why Apple and Steve Jobs may not get their book business, even the ones who buy iPads. At the recent Annual Conference of the Specialty Information Publishers Association (SIPA) James McQuivey of Forrester Research shared some research with interesting implications for Boomer women readers – and good news for Amazon. As at most recent media conferences, the iPad was on everyone's minds at SIPA; and it was the first conference where I saw several presenters use iPads to deliver their PowerPoints. The iPad has had an unbelievable launch. 2 million have been sold in just two months. And Steve Jobs reports that iPad owners have already downloaded 5 million books (which may include 1 million copies of "Winnie the Poof" offered free with the device). We are in a new iPad era, one in which even Jobs' inflated claims for the device may come true. Forrester projects that consumers will buy over 58 million iPads by 2015 – a lot more than 30 million e-readers (including Amazon's Kindle) they project will be bought during the same period . Bad news for Amazon, right? Not exactly. McQuivey noted that consumers repeatedly strongly e-readers like the Kindle for reading lengthy and linear content like books; what's more, it's easier on the eyes and can be read in a great variety of places than the iPad (like outdoors). About 30 million Americans read more than 2 books each month, and many of those are Boomer women. For them, the e-reader and Kindle will remain a relevant device. Even better for Amazon is its decision to let the Kindle be an app as well as a product. And the Kindle app has sold half of those 5 million books downloaded onto iPads to date. Amazon has done such a great job of capturing book readers, and so many readers are so used to Amazon, that no one will quickly beat Amazon as a book retailer. Steve Jobs won't want to admit it, but Apple will not be unseating Amazon as the most relied-on source for books, even for books bought from Apple itself. Combine that with the fact that selling through Amazon is a lot more profitable for publishers (and authors) than selling through Apple, and Amazon's dominance as the Vibrant Woman's preferred source of books is likely to continue to a long time. Few things remain the same in book publishing , consumer electronics, and media these days. But a few things are likely to remain the same for many years: • Boomer women will remain the most reliable and profitable consumers of books in any format. • Boomer women will end up reading more of their books on e-readers (many of which will probably be $99 devices that aren't branded Kindles). • Amazon and Kindle will sell more of those books than anyone else. This content is provided courtesy of Stephen Reily of VibrantNation.com. VibranNation.com is a leading online community devoted exclusively to the influential and fast-growing demographic of smart and successful women over 50. At Vibrant Nation, these women (whom we've named "Vibrant Women") can look for tips, share information, and join in smart conversations about work, style, relationships, wellness, books, and more.

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