Walmart to sell Kindle. This puts the Kindle in front of a new market segment. How large? I’m not sure. I’ll call it 10% of the potential e-reader market and 5% of the potential ebook sales. While that is a trivial number that could be lost in the ‘noise’ of the limited information available, it will increase Kindle ‘mind share.’ I believe that letting customers try before buying is huge in reducing resistance to purchase.
Certain buyers will see the Kindle before going into a bookstore… this should boost the sales of *all* ereaders. One reason Starbucks has so many coffee shops is that they realized a large customer base needs to see two or three coffee shops before deciding to buying that coffee; with Kindle at Walmart ‘mindshare pull’ will now be a little stronger for e-readers.
Now to get the Kindle into Costco… ;) (Unlikely). I’m sure having Android tablets at Costco is helping their sales. My wife noted a whole bunch of customers checking them out during a mid-week run. Why won’t Apple sell the IPad in Costco?
Were at the point that it doesn’t matter what device *new* readers buy, but rather to introduce them to ebooks and pull them over to the dark side. ;) With tablets at Costco and Kindles at Walmart, the number of devices people will want to read ebooks on will continue to increase in 2011. Fast.
Lightsaber
ps (written at the time of the article)
With more and more devices at more and more locations, will will still hear about ebooks maxing out at 50% market share? That quote has me chuckle.
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