That’s an easy one: they are (rightfully) afraid that a desktop Kindle reader would expose their DRM to the exact same kind of exploits that broke Microsoft, Adobe, and Mobipocket DRM.

I’d say it would take less than a week before any desktop Kindle app is cracked open like a melon. As is, I’m not sure, but I think the Kindle itself has been hacked and probably cracked, anyway.

The only reason they support iPhone is because it, like Kindle and Xbox, is *mostly* a walled garden.

Real soon now they are going to have to choose between updating the DRM scheme and seriously inconveniencing their installed base or simply looking the other way.

I expect the latter and the clearest sign will be the release of Kindle for Windows. Time will tell; its early in the game.

But, the story you repeated/linked to is not exactly accurate. The guy was not barred from accessing ebooks he had already bought on his Kindle. His entire Amazon account was suspended so he couldn’t go to the site to re-download books that he might have deleted. Agreed that stinks but it’s still a far cry from Amazon bricking his Kindle etc.

The TOS may allow Amazon to do bad things someday but the actual anecdotes have to do with a far more limited and less-scary-sounding practice.

Seems like that bit about divorcing the ebook and ereader businesses at Amazon is total bunk. Maybe it’s just me….

Just an FYI regarding Amazon and DRM. Like any other company, Amazon can fail and go under (I hope they don’t), but it’s possible.

And Amazon can and has cut people’s access to ebooks purchased legally on the Kindle. One case I remember was a guy who had ‘too many returns’. His account was suspended and he could no longer access any of the books on his Kindle device.

http://bit.ly/o6HzH
http://bit.ly/12IIA
http://bit.ly/AFAM

Read the TOS for the Kindle carefully, it pretty much lets Amazon do whatever they want with the ebooks you buy.

So, Felx, we’ll all be happily united in time under Amazon-DRMed ePub?
____________________________________________

Read again.
I expect level three to break the back of DRM’ed ebooks altogether. Which is why I seriously doubt it will happen at all.

It could be the only hard info in Bezos’s remarks was that there’ll be Kindle e-reading software on other AT&T, Sprint and Verizon smartphones. He said the iPhone wouldn’t be the only Kindle-compatible device back in February so it’s just a matter of time before another partner emerges.

As for “more book formats,” I wonder if that doesn’t mean:
A) Amazon strikes its own deal with Google to provide public-domain titles in ePub, orB) integrating a proper PDF reader into the UI, instead of converting PDF to Kindle format. As you suggest, this might very well utilize Adobe’s non-exclusive DRM.
But having written that sentence, I acknowledge your insight into the situation — Amazon can license the same technology from Adobe that Sony does, enabling Kindle users to read books obtained from the Sony ebook-store (but not the other way round).

It might be tempting to let Sony carry all the weight of licensing, hosting and serving those PD titles, but Bezos’ doesn’t seem the sort to let his customers go elsewhere when they’re book hunting.

By pricing e-books at Amazon so aggressively and including free 3G data service, he prevents anyone from flanking Amazon on price or convenience. The Kindle doesn’t have to add ePub and PDF, but doing so removes that feature as a competitive disadvantage. With lots of e-Ink e-readers and color-LCD tablets on the horizon, maybe it’s not a bad idea to add as much protection as possible.

So, Felx, we’ll all be happily united in time under Amazon-DRMed ePub? Actually that might be good news if it tips Adobe toward finally getting serious about social DRM–embedding customers names in books, as opposed to the usual “protection.” That would mean perfect crossplatform compatibility for ePub and nicely disrupt Amazon right back.

Fun to speculate, eh? Thanks for your thoughts.

David

As for DRM, it restricts the range of devices you can enjoy your books on. Granted, Amazon can go for multiplatform approaches. But tech keeps changing, and it’s inevitable that some customers will be left behind.

Meanwhile here’s a reminder of the fate of the Mobipocket owners who bought DRMed books but can’t access them through any current Kindle client. So far Jeff hasn’t even granted them access via free Kindle versions of the same times.

As a company to trust with your books purchases, Amazon will
more credible if it drops or cuts back on the use of DRM.

Thanks,
David

1- At the lowest level, they could support DRM-free ePub. Takes away the “they don’t support the publisher’s preferred format!” argument while giving away nothing in their business model.

2- They could support ePub and Adobe’s inept DRM by letting you run ADE on a PC and get DRM’ed books from other sources onto a Kindle. Takes away the “they want to lock you in!” argument but since they are still the largest, most convenient ebook store with (generally) the lowest prices they wouldn’t be giving much away.

3- They could support ePub with their *own* DRM, possibly licensing the new format through Mobipocket, and instantly split the DRM’ed ePub market and stealing the “standard” imprint off Adobe’s proprietary DRM. For those that haven’t seen this approach before, its called “embrace-and-extend”. And it has worked every time its been tried; it worked for IBM, Microsoft, Google, and it is exactly what Adobe is trying to do with their hijacking of ePub.

Best guess is Bezos is talking about level one ePub compatibility, at most. But me, I’d like to see Level three. The chaos resulting should be a joy to behold and it would likely topple eBabel once and for all.

I am not as bothered by DRM as so many of you (get your heads out of the sands!) Amazon is NOT goin gaway so you won’t lose your books. Being cut off by Amazon? You would have to act so egregiously that I would not have any sympathy.

1. Bezos is sticking with eInk. He is pretty adamant that reading on traditional LCD screens is not what he wants to do, and most people will, he thinks, agree. So I don’t have much hopes for a 3Qi color Kindle next year. Instead, color will have to wait on eInk.

2. Subscription pricing plans are being considered, but only as alternatives, or niche. I wonder then if this might see the rise of ‘Kindle Book Clubs’ offered by allies or third parties. Like the ‘Kindle Romance book club’ or the ‘Kindle SF book club’ or ‘Kindle Mystery book club’ — these would not necessarily be offered by Amazon directly, any more than the traditional book clubs were owned by the publishers. Rather, the book club would arrange deals with Amazon for wholesale prices on the Kindles, then offer Kindles with preloaded starter sets of books, and the subscriber would be obligated to buy the ‘book of the month’ or alternative, so many books a year. This is speculation on my part, but it does make sense if the pricing can be worked out.

3. Pricing? If Amazon is subsidizing the price of best sellers, then that #2 book club model won’t be able to compete. This is a serious flaw in the book club concept.

4. Kindle on other devices? Amazon will have to move carefully here. You have to look at how Amazon will be making money. Kindle on iPhone means that Amazon doesn’t have to make and sell a Kindle to you (or subsidize the wireless fees), but it places Amazon in the position of making money ONLY as a publisher/retailer. And in that position, Amazon ONLY has its proprietary file format with its DRM to distinguish itself.

So if Kindles support epub on any sort of standard (including a standard DRM) then Amazon will ONLY make money selling the devices. But you will be able to read those epubs on other devices as well as buying the etexts from other vendors. Random House could sell their epub editions directly to you, and you’d be able to read them on your cell phone, your Sony Reader, your Kindle, your netbook, your desktop. Under this model, Amazon has no real competitive advantage except for the edge that all serious readers already have Amazon accounts and Amazon makes buying from them pretty easy.

In other words, I really can’t see Amazon giving up the competitive edge they have right now with their walled-off, proprietary garden. They offer Kindles, on which they make (very little) profit selling; they offer kindle-edition etexts, on which they make some money on a lot, and lose money on a few; they let you read those kindle-editions on platforms Amazon considers inferior to the ‘real’ Kindle, such as small-screen smartphones. And ALL roads to the kindle editions for sale run through Amazon.

—

One final bit of speculation from me: I wonder if publisher X or author Y could do business with Kindle owners selling directly to them via email, and cut Amazon out of it — right now, today?

You go to publisher or author’s website, and pay for the etext; the publisher or author then emails to your kindle email address the text. You pay a small additional amount for the conversion services and wireless fees — a few cents, really, for the average novel. Publisher gets to set his own price and keep full retail, but (I think) he foregoes DRM.

However, until Amazon loosens up on the Kindle’s DRM, I won’t even consider buying one. When people can no longer access the ebooks they legally purchased through Amazon, because Amazon ‘suspended’ their account, there is something seriously wrong.

I’ll be eager to see how this plays out. Thanks for the post!