R. I. P. “Kindle-killer.”

After posting countless blogs using the phrase we are hereby retiring it – subject to our right to change our minds on the day that a device comes along that truly exterminates the Kindle.  But we’ll want to see a death certificate, because at this point that prospect is impossible to conceive.

This declaration is triggered by Amazon’s recent announcement that sales of e-books have finally surpassed sales of hardcovers on the amazon.com website.  We also cite as Exhibit B Amazon’s  earnings report for the second quarter of 2010 showing a 45% profit growth over the prior year. (Wall Street was actually disappointed that the jump wasn’t higher. Oy!  $207 million earnings should happen to us!) If these developments don’t put paid to speculation on the demise of Kindle, nothing will.

How has Amazon endured against the attacking swarm of competitors and corporate adversaries? Among the many reasons are that it’s an elegant product with superb functionality, it’s backed by first-rate service, its library is all but infinite, its name has become as branded as Band-Aid or Frigidaire, its list price has remained competitive, and, like a wasp laying eggs in its living victims, Amazon has embedded its kindle apps in the bowels of its rivals.

Perhaps the most cogent explanation of Kindle’s enduring dominance – especially vis a vis the most touted Kindle-killer of all, the Apple iPad – was expressed by Megan McArdle in The Atlantic (and the italics are ours):

“Ultimately, I’m not sure how much Amazon cares how much profit it makes on the Kindle – the machine is a way to sell more content, not a profit center on its own. So far, Apple is trying to pull all of its profit out of the device, not the content stream, but I wonder if that will last. The more powerful Apple gets, the more disenchanted the hard-core tech fans become. Meanwhile, they’re getting stronger and stronger competition from devices like the Droid, which may push their margins down the way they pummeled the margins on the Kindle.”

McArdle’s article is worth reading in its entirety despite a headline that was a cliche ten years ago: E-Books: The Future Is Here

Richard Curtis

Every Blogger owes a debt of gratitude to newspapers and magazines. This posting relies on original research and reporting performed by The Atlantic Monthly.