January 31, 2008
Amazon’s iTunes rivalry audibly increases
Amazon is looking more like Apple every day in the audio department.
It now has an iPod (its Kindle electronic book plays MP3s), iTunes (its MP3 beta service), downloadable video to rent or buy (Unbox) and now podcasts and audiobooks ( it just bought Audible for $300m).
The Audible.com acquisition, announced today, is an interesting one as Audible supplies audiobooks for iTunes – no word yet on how that relationship might change.
Amazon said it would pay $11.50 a share for Audible, a 23 per cent premium on its closing price on Wednesday.
Audible, founded in 1997, has more than 500 spoken-word content partners and offers a subscription model for access to audiobooks, radio shows and podcasts.
Amazon recently scored a big win over iTunes, signing deals with the four major record companies to offer music free of digital rights management software. Apple’s only such deal is with EMI.
The one thing Amazon can’t add is Apple’s cool. When it comes to brand recognition in music, Apple still has the edge.
