Google Trends is one of my favorite analysis tools, and it’s totally free. It can tell you how popular a search term is and it’s particularly useful when comparing two or more related phrases.
Every so often I like to compare the phrase “Amazon Kindle” with “Sony Reader” to see who’s winning the search battle. You can see for yourself by either clicking the image to the left or clicking here to see the full results on Google Trends.
No matter how you look at it, you’ll notice two things. First, and it’s old news, but the Kindle took an early but short-lived lead in search activity when it first hit the scene 13 months ago.
It’s been trailing the Reader ever since, but briefly surged back ahead earlier in the fourth calendar quarter, right about the time Oprah went ga-ga over it. Which brings me to the second point: as we got further into the holiday shopping season, while Amazon has been out-of-stock, the Reader has opened up a huge lead over the Kindle in search activity.
If this metric is at all meaningful, and I tend to believe it is, Amazon just keeps shooting themselves in the foot with these poorly timed out-of-stock situations. Clearly there’s a pretty strong (and growing) interest in the Sony Reader.
I was at Borders last night and all of the Sony PRS 505s were sold out. They had about 4 of the higher end ones. The manager said that all of the lower end Sony’s had sold before Christmas and that the store was surprised at how steady a clip that they were selling at.
Even my plumber bought a Sony Reader rather than a Kindle for his wife for Christmas. I asked why and his response was that it seemed more like a book whereas the Kindle seemed to be just another computer. I’ll have to find out how his wife likes it.
It would seem to me, that unless you’re an Amazon shopper, you’re less likely to even know about the Kindle. Sony have a good thing going with retail outlets such as Target and Borders etc. Easier to make impulse purchases in places where you can actually see the device up close and personal.
Just my 2 cents, but wouldn’t it be expected for Sony to turn up higher on Google trends? Since it is for sale at many different places, I would imagine people would be punching it into the search window more to find the best price, where the Kindle is only available at Amazon and one wouldn’t need to run a search for it.
I understand that people are also searching for reviews and opinions as well, but I have to imagine that a majority of the searches are related to finding the best price.
It’s the dell vs apple thing again, the trade press tend to be it’s own demographic and forget that different rules apear out on the streets.
Whats importent is that it’s not tied into a company who is desperately clinging to a model with them 100% in control. non discriminatory licensing is a important feature of information technology, when it moves from being gadgettery to a part of everyday life.
Try this search instead http://www.google.com/trends?q=sony+reader%2C+kindle I think people may be searching for just Kindle. Although Kindle is a valid English word, I have a hard time thinking people are looking it up besides the Amazon product. Most US readers visit Amazon.com & many have seen the Kindle advertisements. I think Sony has benefited from the increased attention to the ebook market, but until Amazon releases some sales numbers, it is questionable to portray Sony as having a significant lead over Amazon in selling readers.
I’ve been tracking Kindle success (or lack there of as well). I also used Google Trends. So … between Zune and Kindle, which has more search traffic?
Okay, Zune is too mature? Let’s go with …. Mushroom or Towel.
http://usedbooksblog.com/blog/kindle-and-the-new-york-times-really/
Amazon is a marketplace and has no experience in production … and it shows. It would be like buying a phone made by the local mega-mall down the highway.
At the end of the day, Kindle is a solution without a problem