The Amazon Kindle Deal With Target Won't Help Much

Amazon (NASAQ: AMZN) announced that it will begin to sell its Kindle digital book reader in some Target (NYSE: TGT) stores. The news was viewed as a big “win” for Amazon, which has been besieged by publishers who believe it charges too little when it sells electronic books and the perception that Kindle sales will be badly damaged by the launch of the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad.

The Target news really does not mean much. Almost no one who reads books regularly is unaware of the Kindle and Amazon’s online book store.

Some of the new readers are not at all well-known. Among those are the Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) Nook and Sony (NYSE: SNE) eReader. Both of these and any attempts by PC companies to turn their laptops into digital book viewers have been unsuccessful, at least compared to the Kindle, which experts believe has sold over three million units since its launch in March 2009.

The broad awareness of the Kindle and the fact that it can be purchased on Amazon.com makes whatever bricks-and-mortar deals it does of very little use in improving units sales. Its $249 price point is well below that of the least expensive iPad which retails for $499. The fight that the Kindle must fight is based on its features compared to the iPad which is essentially a tablet computer shaped like a large iPhone. Consumer research firms have also reported that many people will not buy any e-readers at their current prices.