Most people who own a Kindle (Amazon.com’s e-book reading device) rave about it, and it’s certainly been a big seller for Amazon.com. But I notice that they’ve recently been making a big deal of promoting the Kindle application for Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad:

Now, get this: The Kindle costs $250; the Kindle application for the iPhone costs nothing!

So why are they promoting the app so prominently, when it’s obviously competing directly with sales of the Kindle?

Is it because they’ve conceded defeat to Apple?
Or do they have a secret deal with Apple?
Or are they just dumb?

Personally, I think it’s a very SMART decision.

Why? Because Amazon.com is in the business of selling books, not computer hardware.

Before there were any good e-book readers around, they built their own. But now that Apple has produced something that might be a viable alternative, it makes good business sense for them to switch their allegiance. They make their money on the books people buy, so if a “competitor” has another way for people to read books, it makes sense for Amazon to support them.

Another Internet giant, Google, is doing something similar. Google makes money by selling advertising. But the advertiser only pays when somebody clicks on their ad, so it’s in Google’s interest to have as many people see the ad as possible. That’s why it offers so many high-quality features free of charge to us as users. It’s even running a competition in the USA to wire up an entire town with super-fast Internet access!

What can YOU learn from this?

There’s an important lesson for all of us, especially if you’re a speaker, trainer, consultant, coach or other infopreneur.

You might be selling a keynote presentation, a training program, a coaching session, or the like. But what are your clients actually buying?

I reckon they’re buying your message, and your skill in delivering it. The presentation (conference, training room, whatever) is just your vehicle for delivering your message – just like the Kindle is Amazon’s vehicle for delivering their books.

If that’s true, then when some other vehicle comes along, you need to be flexible enough to switch to it.

Those vehicles ARE available!

The good news is that many of these new vehicles are available, and experts are already using them to deliver their messages:

• Webinars: For conducting live training, coaching, consulting and facilitation
• On-line video: For keynote presentations (TED.com, for example)
• E-mail courses: For on-demand training delivered in stages
• Slide show sites: For training modules
• Even entire on-line conferences!

The bad news is that if you’re not doing these things, other experts are! It’s not just that they will; they already are.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think we’ll ever lose the need for face-to-face presentations, and I don’t think they will go the way of the vinyl LP. But more and more, your clients and customers will expect you to use this new technology to replace, supplement or enhance your presentations.

And if you’re not providing it, they’ll find somebody else who will!