At this rate, Kindle will be a tablet too

Apple may have stepped on Amazon’s turf when Steve Jobs announced the iBookstore for the iPad, but Amazon was immediately, and pre-emptively, on the offensive. In response, Amazon announced that the Kindle will be open for apps. Sure, the idea has been in development for a while, but the timing of the announcement (the official press release went out just a week before the iPad was unveiled) was what made it important.

Now Amazon has taken it further by purchasing Touchco, a company that makes flexible touchscreens. With this touchscreen, expect to see color, because Amazon will make sure that, with the iPad shipping in March and April, the Kindle is ready to do combat.

However, all these changes raise a point I’ve made before: E-readers are becoming obsolete. The way they are now e-readers won’t be able to compete with the iPad. These changes Amazon is making to the Kindle, the touchscreen, the apps and who knows what’s next (MP3 player?) are making the device less an e-reader and more a tablet. Soon there will be no such thing as a device used solely for reading e-books. And why should there be? That’s a one-trick pony in an industry that values gadgets with multiple functions.

Another shake up for Amazon following the iPad’s announcement has been the price of e-books. Publishers, now that Jobs announced books around $12.99-$14.99, are clamoring for Amazon to also increase prices. MacMillan was the first to successfully get book prices increased and Rupert Murdoch with HarperCollins followed suit. Two days ago, Hachette Book Group entered the fray. With two publishing companies left, Penguin and Simon & Schuster, it is looking more likely that Amazon will have to match Apple’s prices.

iBooks may damage Kindle’s book prices

Rupert Murdoch, the chief of News Corp., which oversees HarperCollins, has expressed displeasure at Amazon’s (AMZN) low $9.99 price for electronic books. Another publisher, MacMillan, insisted that prices change to more reasonable (for the company) prices of $12.99  to $14.99.

Enter Apple (AAPL): Murdoch now has some bite to back up his bark. In fact, HarperCollins has already made a deal with Apple that Murdoch likes more. I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon is suddenly more interested in negotiating prices.After all, the prices MacMillan secured with Amazon are right in line with what Apple plans to charge for its iBooks.

Apple and Steve Jobs clearly like to change the status quo whenever possible. After all, Jobs decided he didn’t like Flash and wouldn’t allow Flash to run on his products because it was “buggy” and soon to be obsolete. Initially people thought Jobs was off his rocker (myself included). After all, many Web sites use Flash for key components; however, these sites also want to be on the iPhone and iPad and therefore make compatible sites.

With the lure of a new, hyped up device Web sites might forsake Flash for the new HTML5, which Jobs believes will replace Adobe’s software.