Amazon.com Acquires Book Printing Service - BizReport

Amazon.com Acquires Book Printing Service - BizReport

AMZN is in the business of selling books and other stuff. The company AMZN just bought is in the business of printing books on demand. The purchase is a natural fit for as far as it goes.

A computer hacker was once able to print an entire book from Google in PDF format. Google locked the door but the point is that Google has the capacity to download all the books it is scanning. Books on demand is an example of the "long-tails" phenomenon. Suddenly, the total number of "unpopular books" sold will be much larger than the number of "popular books". Large printing runs are no longer the key to selling books.

The cost to print even one book is now a minor consideration however, the cost to download one book is significantly less. The future is one of computer books. In the same way that the first cars were not as reliable as a horse and buggy, computer books have a ways to go.

My family owns AMZN and GOOG. We believe there is growth in the future of each. Google has worked to build a "partnership" network. Is there any reason for Google to share the book business? Google could easily put a click here button for the consumer to download a book. On the other hand, it could allow AMZN and others to market the books and share the revenues.

I have done the Google Gulp (see my post of December 30, 2004). Google will receive significant revenues from the book business one day. Current book revenues are very small. Go Google.