On the first working day of 2022, Kindle unexpectedly topped Weibo's hot search list for the first time (and probably the last time). "Kindle or withdrawal from the Chinese market" has become the most concerned technology news today, after all, since officially entering China in 2013, Kindle's cumulative users in the domestic market have exceeded 10 million, and in the list of the most vulnerable thunder in 2021 released by Idle Fish not long ago, Kindle ranked third.
If you trace the source of this message, you will find that it comes from a popular Weibo post last night. When seeing that the official Kindle Taobao store was closed and Jingdong was out of stock, the blogger @ sucked a cool fart and couldn't help asking: What happened to the Kindle's product line in China, was there an internal problem or exited the Chinese market?
This Microblog quickly fermented in a short period of time, forwarded nearly 10,000 times, and attracted follow-up from various media, directly pushing "Kindle or exiting the Chinese market" on the hot search list. If you trace it further, you will find that on December 31, The B station UP main nagging science TechTalk made a video "Kindle official store closed, the team was cut, your instant noodle lid is going to be cold?" 》。 He also found that the Kindle's domestic official channels were completely out of stock, and after asking friends who worked in Central Asia, the news was that the Kindle team was cut last month, and there was no longer a Kindle electronics business in China. Today, a number of independent sources within Amazon China revealed to the Beijing News reporter that the company's Kindle hardware team was laid off in November last year.
However, in the face of the media's door-to-door verification, Amazon's official reply is: "We are committed to serving Chinese consumers." Consumers can purchase Kindle devices through third-party online and offline retailers. The Kindle e-book reader is popular with consumers, and some models are currently sold out in the Chinese market. "The Kindle e-book store is currently operating as usual, and recently released its annual reading list for the ninth consecutive year, and there is no sign of closing the store and running away.
Weibo blogger @Kindle e-book library also gave fans a "reassuring pill": at present, only the manufacturer is out of stock, and it will improve after March this year. The Kindle bookstore will not be closed, so let's read the book with peace of mind.
As early as 2019, when Amazon China stopped selling paper books, many people began to worry about where the Kindle business would go, and then Amazon's official website stopped selling Kindle devices, and the official flagship store of Kindle Tmall closed in October last year, and now the official online sales channel is only Jingdong, and in addition to the youth version, the whole line is out of stock, which inevitably leaves people with the impression of retreating step by step, and the user's collective panic will not fade because of the official rhetoric of the Kindle.
More than two months ago, the Kindle Paperwhite 5, which opened an appointment to show that it was out of stock, made Amazon bear the crime of "playing monkeys" for the first time, and the old users who had followed for many years were deeply disappointed. Kindle China's Weibo comment section was once seized by angry netizens. Kindle Paperwhite 5 Jingdong half a month pre-sale broke 15,000, 6.8-inch large screen inspired many users to change the enthusiasm. However, after 3 months, this latest device is still difficult to find in China, and some users can only buy from channels such as Riya. If the Kindle hardware team is actually hacked, it all makes sense.
Although the Kindle has long been bundled with the bubble face cover in China, although the domestic e-book reader has long been blooming, if the Kindle device really withdraws from the Chinese market, it not only marks the end of an era, but also means that the e-reader market has since returned from the public to the niche, which is not a good news for all manufacturers and users.
After all, in China, the Kindle is synonymous with e-readers, and the Kindle accounts for the majority of more than 2 million shipments per year, and many people are trying other reader products further through the Kindle. Once the Kindle disappears from the public eye and is gradually forgotten, can the volume of this market still support so many domestic manufacturers?
Many people regard the news of Kindle's withdrawal as a "backward" product collapse, as in our previous article "Half Cover Bubble Noodles, Half Hang Idle Fish", is your Kindle still in use? The numbers released by Idle Fish are a red flag for Amazon, especially in the case of The Kindle's lack of new product innovation in recent years. In addition to the gift market, more and more users are reluctant to pay more than double the "premium" for new products, and are more inclined to choose old models with similar functions. In other words, Kindle is forming an inner loop market between users.
For any commodity, a high inactivity rate means that the "placebo effect" overrides the utility of use, and this situation is difficult to last. In recent years, Kindle can only promote sales through a variety of co-branded limited models, and even invited the marketing master ring behind Durex to sit in the town, with "cover Kindle, more fragrant face" to get close to the younger consumer group, but can not cover up the product itself "do not want to forge ahead".
Compared to the Withdrawal of Kindle hardware devices from the Chinese market, many users may be more concerned about the fate of the Kindle e-bookstore. After all, consumers with a heart can still try to get new Kindle devices through channels such as overseas purchases, but if the Kindle Chinese e-bookstore is closed, the Kindle in the user's hand can really only cover the bubble noodles.
In 2019, Microsoft closed its e-book store, and all e-books on user devices were "removed", Microsoft will provide a full refund to e-book users, and compensate those who have commented on the book for another $25. This incident also made people notice again that whether it is Microsoft, Apple or Amazon, there are small-print clauses that state that the provision is digital rental rather than "sale", and users do not own the e-book, but are granted restricted use rights.
So once the Kindle Chinese e-bookstore is no longer available, it not only means that you won't be able to get the latest e-books on your Kindle device, but it's likely that the e-books you've already purchased and rented won't be available.
Of course, Amazon will not rush to give up tens of millions of existing users, and the kindle Chinese e-bookstore will continue to operate. However, without the drive of new equipment and new users, and the market share is constantly squeezed by platforms such as WeChat Reading, how long can Kindle Bookstore support itself in China? Can the speed and quality of the new be guaranteed?
From now on, every Kindle user may have to plan for the worst and be prepared to say goodbye to the Kindle, although we hope it will be a long goodbye.