I recently did a quick post on Amazon’s Kindle and how it’s time for all or nothing.  In the B2C world, product development cycles are brutal.  While Kindle definitely had the first-mover advantage, it’s feeling the hot breath of the iPad breathing down its neck.  Honestly, Apple may just have too much brand momentum and past experience to be stopped.

Why?

Apple is an old pro at the fast-follower game and watched the mini-disc and early MP3 devices fail miserably at a seamless user experience.  They smartly came in and redefined the category, built the platform, and owned the portable music market.  Next up was phones – and while they only own 15% of the mobile market, you can see the broad influence the design and the Apps Store has had.

However, it’s not as hopeless as it may seem.  Let’s do a quick thought experiment if we were tasked with a marketing strategy for saving Kindle in order of importance:

1. Redesign the damn thing. It’s no secret that V1 of the Kindle was pretty ugly. V2 is better but not revolutionary. Kindle needs an elegant form-factor and user interface that makes getting on the web for checking email and Facebook enjoyable as well as for reading books. We expect convergence in our mobile devices. No short order for sure.  In the meantime…
2. Pick a niche. Kindle has to find what Geoffrey Moore calls a “beachead”.  Much like Allied solders needed a foothold when invading Europe in WWII, the Kindle has to find some area to land on and begin moving inland towards mainstream adoption.  Seth Godin points out that they may have found it by the fact it’s used in large part by women. Now, it’s time to use this research for developing a serious evangelist program – Oprah’s book club?  A genre where you get to pick 10 titles for free? A way to extend the device through partnerships into another offline passion (knitting, cooking, gardening)? Know thy user, surprise them, and give them a reason to talk.
3. Developers. Developers. Developers. Here is where Apple is weak. They’re getting a little too pretentious for developers and have been alienating this core group of innovators much like what happened in the 80′s.  While the App Store has made millionaires overnight for viral apps, there are thousands that languish or don’t get approved at all for lame reasons.  (See this great essay by VC Paul Graham on Apple’s Mistake). Amazon can ramp up a developer outreach program for ways to develop innovative apps around downloading, reading, and learning. Turn it loose with great support and a killer Software Developer Kit (SDK) but do as little as possible to get in between users and programmers.  Instead, come up with ways to help developers market their application. Build an online community of users that offers prizes for “most-loved” or “changed my life” type apps.  Let programmers keep 100% of the profits – now there’s a real incentive. Use these to build some buzz with consumers and developers…

And finally, play up the fact that the Kindle is not on AT&T. Enough said.