Independent Manufacturers Benefit From E-Book Reader Market Growth
E-book readers have been around for a long time now. The first one, which is generally agreed to have been the Franklin eBookman, was released in 1999, more than a decade ago. Other readers subsequently hit the market, notably Amazon’s original Kindle in November 2007 which was actually released after the Sony’s PRS which was released in 2006.
However, it wasn’t until 2009 that e-book readers really cauht the public imagination. With absolutely no disrespect to Sony, much of the credit for this must surely go to Amazon. The Kindle 2.0 launch in February 2009 quickly followed by the release 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 quickly became Amazon’s best selling product and over the course of the 2009 festive season became the most gifted Amazon product ever. Both Sony and Barnes and Noble had released their own new readers 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 topped the sales charts.
At the moment there is no shortage 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. For the first time ever, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas in January 2010, had a separate section dedicated to e-book readers. Most industry analysts are predicting 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 completely new market sector which didn’t exist, at least not in any significant way, until very recently. Over and above the manufacturers of the e-book reader devices themselves, there are opportunities for publishers, academic establishments, third party manufacturers and of course, the reading public.
The sudden emergence of this market segment has been excellent news for companies such as M-Edge who manufacture a wide range of Kindle accessories including covers, reading lights, chargers and so on. There are plenty of other accessory suppliers who are also benefiting. Right now, there is a strong concentration on accessories for the Kindle reader, but as the market expands and other readers increase in popularity these will also afford excellent opportunities to the independents.
The e-book reader market is still in its infancy. It is growing and developing at a rapid pace. Amazon has been instrumental in the market’s development thus far and enjoys a 60% share of the U.S. market as a result. In 2010, their dominant position is going to be challenged, as 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 a presnce for themselves at this early stage.
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