Kindle - a threat to the book industry

The book industry is shaking! In recent months, American readers are crazy over the Kindle, a device that can read electronic books marketed by the virtual bookseller Amazon.com. Its proponents argue that the experience of reading is comparable to that afforded by a paperbook. They also boast its convenience: the electronic book can carry hundreds of books in your pocket and download the latest best-seller in a flash.

The Kindle now generates 6% of total sales of books at Amazon.com. This was announced with joy by Jeffrey P. Bezos, founder and CEO of the company at the BookExpo America, annual appointment of the edition world held in Los Angeles in June.

If Mr. Bezos is happy, publishers themselves trouble. The popularity of e-book is real. The major U.S. publishing houses like Simon & Schuster and Penguin Group reported an explosion in sales of electronic books in recent months. Largely thanks to Kindle, but also to its competitor, the Sony Reader device.

While the publishing houses take advantage of the trend, some fear that the format might become a virtual standard, which would give more bargaining power to Amazon. Currently, Amazon sells its electronic books for users of Kindle the maximum price of $ 9.99. This is less than what it pays for publishers - it then sells at a loss. They fear that soon, Amazon will use the popularity of Kindle to demand they drop their prices.