Apple and Amazon: "Frenemies" on eReaders

Apple and Amazon are ’Frenemies’ When it Comes to eReaders

New research by Feng Zhu and colleagues reveals why sometimes it's better for fierce competitors like Apple and Amazon to work together

Michael Blanding | August 3, 2015

Let's get one thing straight from the start: Apple and Amazon are not friends. If they were high school students, they'd be mean girls glaring at each other from opposite sides of the cafeteria, jealously forcing their friends to pick sides between Team Chloe and Team Madison.

[Above image from: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/rivalries/2013/08/amazon_facebook_google_apple_the_top_four_tech_companies_need_one_another.html]

...So why would Amazon release a version of its Kindle Reader on Apple's iPad, allowing users to access its library of exclusive digital books? "Doesn't that diminish interest in the Kindle device?" asks Feng Zhu, an assistant professor in the Technology and Operations Management unit at Harvard Business School.

<more at http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7768.html; related links: http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml (Why Apple And Amazon Choose To Be 'Frenemies'. August 3, 2015) and http://www.slate.com/articles/business/rivalries/2013/08/amazon_facebook_google_apple_the_top_four_tech_companies_need_one_another.html (Behind Frenemy Lines; We think of the top four tech companies as mortal foes, but they need one another in order to thrive. August 5, 2015)>