Waterstones to Stop Selling Kindle In Most Stores

[mosaix]

I'm a little surprised by this...

http://www.theguardian.com/books/20...-kindle-stop-selling-most-stores-books-ebooks

Waterstones is to stop selling the Kindle e-reader in most of its stores in what industry bosses have said could become a watershed moment in the battle between physical and digital books.


James Daunt, the managing director of Waterstones, told the Guardian he has removed Kindles from most of the books chain’s 280 stores because they were “getting virtually no sales”.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Part of a masterful plan to discredit kindles?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Essentially what he said that the kindles are too sturdy and people don't replacethem. He also reckoned most people who wanted to read on one had already purchased one and couldn't see a new market for it.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Maybe people buy kindles from Argos, Tesco and Amazon?

Or perhaps they want to sell books in their own shops?
They can't make money selling books for Kindle. The Kindle doesn't support the evil Adobe DRM and only non-DRM via Calibre. If Waterstones's has DRM, then you need an ePub eReader or App with Adobe support.

Our EPUB eBooks can be read on mobiles, tablets (including Kindle Fire), computers and eReaders (except for Kindle).

(Nook is nearly dead = Barnes & Noble. Kobo is last independent of any size now Sony is gone, they are only two ePub supporting Adobe DRM with serious sales)
Apple has iBooks, but no decent reading device. Tablets and phones can't compete with eInk for dedicated reading, but eInk based readers can't compete with tablets or phalets for any other content. People with a tablet can't see the point of eInk, unless they have one AND read lots (the screens are hugely less grey than 3 or 4 years ago too.)

In March 2013, Waterstones announced that they were making changes to their eBook store, and advised customers that some of their ebooks would become unavailable for download after 18 April 2013. Waterstones advised affected customers to download before then. Any customer who had not kept their own backups and missed this 31-day window lost their ebooks.[146]

This is bit like a ferry company deciding they won't sell plane tickets.
https://www.waterstones.com/ebooks

Really most ePubs are read on phones and Tablets. Nook & Kobo have tiny share of eReader market.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Essentially what he said that the kindles are too sturdy and people don't replace them. He also reckoned most people who wanted to read on one had already purchased one

Nearly true*. Sales of Kindles have no growth, but have not stopped. People with Gen3 and earlier are getting the 2015 paperWhite as it's so much better. having two or more means you can "loan" books, use them like PADD on StarTrek.

The real reason is that that make nearly no money on them and their eBooks won't work on a Kindle. Amazon is their biggest competitor.

[* You can break a Kindle screen, but not as easily as LCD or AMOLED on Fire/Tabletphone. The newer Kindles have even more robust screens. Also Lithium battery life is mostly Cycles, total use, which means eInk Kindle battery life (not charge) lasts x5 longer typically, than phone, Fire, Tablet, laptop etc ]

 

[DCBastien]

I have to say I have had a kindle for years and it's been surprisingly robust, though that's likely because I don't give it much hammering other than when I go on holiday. I like it well enough, but it has a very specific and small functionality for me. I know the other half's started to get cranky so I got her a tablet that would happily Kindle, but again unless we're away somewhere abroad then we're likely to use phone/laptop instead.

I am not surprised they're taking them off physical shelves. I think most people would rather the convenience of buying straight from Amazon, or having the Clubcard (or equivalent!) points...

 

[Vertigo]

I think the real problem is Waterstones' totally inadequate entry into the eBook market. When I set out to buy an eBook I have a number of sites that I check. Amazon is usually the cheapest but out of principle I will buy elsewhere in preference so long as it's not too much more expensive. Waterstones was always one of the sites I used to try but only once in about 7 years have they even had the eBook I'm looking for. Normally they just have it listed as "out of stock" which is a ridiculous concept for an eBook. About 6 months ago I simply stopped bothering to check their site. If they can't be bothered to sell ebooks properly then I'm afraid they aren't likely to last much longer.

The other annoying thing, which may have changed (as I said I've stopped checking now), is that any Waterstones loyalty points you might get couldn't be used towards the purchase of ebooks. Way to go Waterstones; give your customers a bunch of points when they buy a reader from you (I bought a Sony reader and got a load of points) but don't let your customers use them when buying books for that reader.

I'm sorry but my impression of Waterstones is that they've thoroughly buried their heads in the sand.