Date of Award

5-2013

Thesis Date

5-2013

Degree Type

Honors Thesis-Unrestricted

Degree Name

B.S.

Department

Management

Degree Program

Management

Director

Cherie C. Trumbach

Abstract

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), headquartered in Seattle, Washington, is the world’s largest online retailer (Jopson, 1). The company’s website launched in the United States in 1994 by Jeffrey Bezos as an online bookstore, later diversified to offer a broad line of products in multiple warehouses across the US. With successful expansion, Amazon.com is now available worldwide in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Brazil and China (SECdatabase, 50). The company directly sells or acts as a third – party to deliver the products to customers. As of the first quarter in 2011, Amazon has approximately 137 million active customers worldwide (Szkutak, 1).

In 2007, CEO Jeff Bezos lead Amazon in a new direction by introducing the eReaderKindle, offering a new platform for digital books and other e-print media. The Kindle allows users to read, shop for, download and browse eBooks, newspaper, magazines, blogs and websites using Wi-Fi. The 3G Kindle uses Sprint’s 3G cellular services to allow immediate customer purchase and download from the Amazon Kindle store, with no connectivity charges. The base model e-ink Kindle features a 6” screen, while the Kindle DX has a 10” screen and the newly introduced Kindle Fire has 7” multi-touch colored screen. The Kindle is designed for people who favor a small, compact electronic device to carry in their pockets or bags.

The purpose of this paper is to detail the development, technology, opportunities as well as challenges associated with Amazon Kindle in relate to the publishing industry. The paper also discusses whether the 6” eReader device will change reading habits and its impact on hardcopy publishing businesses worldwide.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this honors thesis in whole or part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the honors thesis.

Share

COinS