Expansion In Electronic Book Reader Sales Spells Good News For Independents
Electronic book readers have been available for quite some time now. The first one, generally considered to have been the Franklin eBookman, was released in 1999, more than ten years ago. Further devices were released, notably Amazon’s original Kindle in November 2007 which actually lagged behind the Sony’s PRS which had launched in 2006.
However, it wasn’t until 2009 that e-book readers really took off in a big way. Without ignoring the contribution of Sony in any way, a great deal of the credit for this must surely go to Amazon. The Kindle 2.0 launch in February 2009 quickly followed by the launch of the larger DX reader in June caused generated a lot of publicity and established e-book readers as the hot gadget of the year. The Kindle rapidly established itself as Amazon’s number one selling product and was the most gifted Amazon item ever over the 2009 festive period. Both Barnes and Noble and Sony had released new readers of their own in advance of the Christmas season, but uncertainty about delivery in time for Xmas, combined with the already established dominance of the Amazon’s Kindle meant that Amazon swept the boards.
There is currently a good selection of readers to choose from. The list of companies who have their own readers either in development or already available is both long and impressive. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas in January 2010 had a separate zone for e-book readers for the first time ever. All the signs are there that 2010 is going to be an even more successful year for e-book readers and we can probably anticipate continuing growth in the rate of sales.
In effect, the e-book reader sector is a brand new market sector which didn’t exist, at least not in any significant way, until very recently. Over and above the companies who manufacture e-book readers, there are opportunities for publishers, academic establishments, third party manufacturers and of course, the end users – book readers.
The sudden emergence of this market segment has been good news for suppliers like M-Edge who manufacture a wide range of Kindle accessories including covers, reading lights, chargers and so on. There are many other accessory suppliers who are also benefiting. Currently, there is a strong focus on products aimed at the Kindle reader, but as the market expands and other readers increase in popularity these will also afford good opportunities to the third party suppliers.
The market for e-book readers is still in its infancy. It is developing and expanding at an incredible rate. Amazon has been hugely influential in the development of the market up to now and has a 60% share of the U.S. market as a consequence of this. In 2010, their dominant position is going to be challenged, so too will Sony’s current second place (with a highly respectable 35% market share). However, this new market offers plenty of opportunity for companies with the innovative skills and vision to establish themselves at this early stage.
