Strong Representation Of E-Book Reader Manufacturers At This Year’s CES

By U Learn It | February 24, 2010

The organisers of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, being held in Las Vegas have, for the first time ever set aside a special zone for e-book readers. It’s perfectly understandable of course – there are at least two dozen different manufacturers showcasing e-book readers at the show.

The heightened level of interest, both from electronics manufacturers and the public is perfectly understandable. After all, 2009 was a bumper year for e-book readers. And there’s every indication that 2010 will be even better.

There’s little doubt that a great deal of the credit for this heightened awareness of e-book readers in 2009 should be given to the Amazon Kindle reader. The release of first the Kindle 2.0 in February, swiftly supported by the Kindle DX launch in June, created a large amount of good press for e-book readers as a whole and for the Kindle in particular.

The Kindle quickly became the top selling product on Amazon and, during the festive season of 2009, the Kindle became the most gifted item on Amazon. Kindle book sales had been running at 35% of all book sales (where a Kindle edition existed). For the first time ever, on Xmas day 2009, Amazon sold more Kindle books than hardback and paperback conventional books.

The market for both e-book readers and e-books had been firmly established and now looks likely to enter a period of exponential growth.Currently, Amazon has a 60% share of the American market and Sony has 35%. Obviously there are a lot of other manufacturers who want to establish a presence in this market. On the face of it, they will have a challenging time considering Amazon’s dominance – but the market is very new and changing and developing at breakneck speed. Exponential growth seems very likely in the near future and the right product at the right time could change everything overnight.

Electronics manufacturers are not the only businesses interested in the growth and development of the e-book reader market. Third party manufacturers who produce various accessories – reading lights (the displays of e-book readers are not back-lit), covers, chargers, screen protectors etc. – also stand to benefit from a market that, as little as a year ago, simply did not exist. At the moment, Kindle accessories are, predictably, the most common, but as new readers begin to make inroads in the market these will, no doubt, also be catered for.

2010 will be a big year both for e-books and e-book readers. Next year’s Consumer Electronics shows will certainly incorporate a separate e-book reader section – but it may be considerably larger in size compared with this year.