ChangeWave Research wanted to know something. If the iPad had been available when you bought your current e-Reader (Kindle,) would you have purchased your current e-Reader or gone with the iPad? Less than half said they would’ve stayed with what they purchased.

If you don’t, you’re not alone. Barnes & Noble was furiously trying to roll out the Nook e-reader for Christmas. Production delays foiled those plans, and now the Nook is due in most USA stores by mid-week.  The problem is, the landscape has been redefined.  It was owned, quite rightly, by Amazon’s Kindle.  But now that Apple has entered the arena, (See: Gorilla, Eight-Hundred-Pound) the war is perceived as Amazon vs. Apple- with the poor little Nookster left out of the fray.

It looks like Amazon isn’t maintaining the status quo with the Kindle.  The New York Times says Amazon has purchased Touchco, a start-up specializing  in touch-screen technology.  Now just who could Amazon be gunning for? Can’t imagine.

That’s the word here. In a statement on the Kindle Community site, they laid it out.

Dear Customers:

Macmillan, one of the “big six” publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases.

We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it’s reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don’t believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative.

Kindle is a business for Amazon, and it is also a mission. We never expected it to be easy!

Thank you for being a customer.

You have to hand it to Bezos. The e-reader form factor didn’t really exist until the Kindle rolled into town. Now look. They’re everywhere. And Amazon has been movin’ those units, you bet they have.  More here.

Because that’s what the Kindle will end up becoming. Toast. With jam from Trader Joe’s. Seattle website TechFlash has a side-by-side comparison of the Kindle and the iPad. Go here.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos gave an interview to the New York Times recently, where he said that he read his Kindle in the tub. They asked him how got around the fact that water and Kindles don’t naturally interface well. His reply? “A one-gallon Ziploc bag.”  So a company with a display at CES has taken the Ziploc concept one step further.  

The City of Cincinnati has decided to go all-in with the Kindle.  The mayor and city council will all get one, as a way to save paper costs. Councilwoman and Kindle owner Leslie Ghiz called the purchase “ridiculous” and “hysterical.”  Getting real snippy now, she added “It sounds like somebody just wanted a Kindle but didn’t want to pay for it.”  Relax, Leslie- go get some Skyline.

The Kindle was Amazon’s most gifted item in the company’s history, says Amazon chief Jeff Bezos.  A year from now, when the other e-readers have gotten their footing, will he be able to say the same thing? I saw the Sony reader today at Borders- there were a ton of them and no one was paying any attention.  Looked forlorn, actually.

Here. Haven’t these organizations had the talk with El Jobso? Ah, that’s it they’re preparing for the Tablet Of God. See Amazon stock now? Watch the sleigh ride begin folks, cos’ it’s downhill from here on!