Amazon is known for the go-to source for buying books online (and other gadgets) and also hosting platforms.  The company recently took a big stab at consumer electronics with its Kindle device.  Seth Godin points out on his blog about how Amazon might want to tweak its strategy.

“We take this opportunity to bring you live to the scene of a tech product Crossing the Chasm.”

Simply put, Kindle is in the chasm.  They had the innovators and early adopters jump on board and try it.  Now, they find themselves staring up the cliff of the Early Majority.  Looking at a chasm on the bell curve, it kinda resembles the notch on a gun sight.  And that’s exactly what Apple is doing with the iPad – loading the gun and sighting down the barrel on the Kindle. First Mover or Fast Follower…

Hunter or Prey?

Steve Jobs recently mentioned, iPads are selling at a rate of 3 per second.  Apple is coming fast and has the brand momentum and design experience down to take over the electronic book market.  Coupled with the fact it has the distribution channel sewn up with iTunes and the tightly integrated App store, it’s time for a duel in the street and only one gunfighter is going to walk away.

Next up: some strategies for Kindle to scale the rock wall and get in with the Early Majority to keep moving and not get shot dead in the chasm.