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Interesting take at BusinessWeek by Douglas MacMillan regarding Amazon releasing the Kindle app for the iPhone.

My take:
The ongoing revenue stream for Amazon is clearly in the electronic books themselves, not in the Kindle (or Kindle 2), and in general, as I found out when I was consulting with a company who served the microfinance world - credit card companies aren't competing with each other, they're competing with CASH.

Amazon isn't competing with Apple, they're competing with non-consumers of books and magazines, and for those who, particularly in this economy, who aren't willing to pony up for the Kindle but who still want the content. I have the Kindle app on my iPhone, and while it works just fine, I agree with the general sentiment, that for serious readers (I frequently consume 2-3 books a week), the iPhone isn't the format you're going to want to read. The Kindle? Perhaps.

The economics of e-books are still a bit expensive for the consumers, and publishers have only begun to get their heads around this "new" distribution model. Then again, Apple's iTunes Music Store wasn't exactly an overnight success. Innovations take time to find a foundation. All sorts of baggage that needs to be undone, for consumers, authors, publishers, and on and on.

kindle cannibal innovation iphone e-books businessweek douglas_macmillan