Amazon Cloud Drive Merges with Kindle Cloud to Streamline Storage Services
One advantage of using the Amazon Kindle system has always been the fairly straightforward usability of the Kindle Cloud, at least since Amazon has been active in Germany. On one hand, purchased eBooks are stored there, and on the other, you can upload your own documents to the cloud storage space, making it effortless to copy them onto the eBook reader.
Even though the cloud storage mainly operates in the background for the typical eBook user, since syncing is designed to be as discreet and seamless as possible, the advertising for Telekom Cloud on Tolino devices highlights the significant role internet storage and its functionality play in the wider eBook market.
Amazon Web Services as an Additional Pillar
As most of you are probably aware, Amazon is not just a pure e-commerce platform but also a substantial provider of cloud services. All of this is brought together under the Amazon Web Services (AWS) umbrella. Particularly in the business sector, Amazon’s cloud offerings are very popular. According to estimates, the retail giant generated roughly 3 billion USD in revenue in 2013 alone.
Of course, Amazon is also targeting the consumer market, which is at least as lucrative and promises significant growth in the future. To make this even more effective, the company is integrating the Kindle Cloud with its second in-house cloud service (which has been somewhat neglected until now). This service will now be available under the name of the second service: Amazon Cloud Drive.
This integration reflects the ever-changing market. There is also a good chance that the cloud service will be directly integrated into the new Amazon smartphone, making it especially easy to take photos and share and back them up through Amazon Cloud Drive. By bringing this service more into focus after it has been on the market for several years, Amazon likely aims to encourage increased usage.
Kindle users receive a total of 10 GB of cloud storage for free (5 GB Kindle Cloud + 5 GB Cloud Drive). The remaining storage sizes are currently available for purchase (prices per year) as follows:
- 20 GB = 8 Euro
- 50 GB = 20 Euro
- 100 GB = 40 Euro
- 200 GB = 80 Euro
- 500 GB = 200 Euro
- 1000 GB = 400 Euro
Price Reductions Likely
It’s likely only a matter of time before prices drop, as about a month ago, Google significantly reduced their cloud storage prices. For comparison: With Google, you can get 1 terabyte for 120 USD (about 87 Euro) per year, up to a maximum of 30 TB for 3600 USD (about 2605 Euro) per year.
For the average consumer, not much changes in the use of the Kindle apps and eBook reader. Purchased book titles will continue to be automatically linked to the Kindle account and are accessible at any time. What’s new is that documents uploaded via “Send-To-Kindle” will also be stored in their original format, rather than just in the Kindle-compatible AZW format. For now, it seems to be much ado about nothing. However, one might not be going too far out on a limb to suggest that this is just the first step for Amazon, aiming to unify the cloud service and integrate it more closely with its other offerings.
