Amazon Misses Its Target

It's finally official. Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN  ) will begin selling its Kindle e-book reader in Target (NYSE: TGT  ) department stores on Sunday.

It's about time, Amazon!

Tech blog Engadget broke this story a couple of months ago. At the time, Kindle was supposed to make its bricks-and-mortar debut in April.

Amazon probably wishes that prediction had come to pass. The company could have had a presence at the cheap-chic discounter before Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) moved 2 million iPads through its namesake stores, online, and at Best Buy (NYSE: BBY  ) -- making the Kindle appear like a tired one-trick pony.

It's great that the Kindle will finally have a presence in the wild, but it comes too late. Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS  ) has been promoting its Nook device at its namesake superstores since the device launched several months ago. Sony's (NYSE: SNE  ) been marketing its Reader through Best Buy and Borders (NYSE: BGP  ) for ages, and now Borders is beginning to stock a wide array of e-book readers that cost as little as $120 -- less than half Kindle's current price.

What will Amazon hope to achieve through its presence in Target? I was skeptical earlier this year.

"Will Kindles sell briskly at the local Target?" I wondered when Engadget broke the story. "I doubt it. Cost-conscious shoppers know that Amazon doesn't automatically tack on sales tax in most states, so it would probably be cheaper to buy directly through Amazon.com."

I still feel that way. It's Amazon that stands to gain anything here, as folks who have never seen a Kindle in action will get a chance to check out the intuitive e-book reader. Most Target shoppers will simply wonder why it's not stocking iPads.

It's sad, but true: Amazon's call of the wild has come too late.

Will Kindles sell outside Amazon.com? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.