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Amazon has had a great deal of success with its Kindle e-book reader family. It’s the number one selling product on Amazon’s website right now. The Kindle accounts for 60% of all American e-book reader sales and both the Kindle 2.0 and its larger sibling the DX are now on sale to customers in more than 100 countries worldwide – growing Amazon’s reach and growing their customer base enormously.

Right now,Sony are Amazon’s main competitor – trailing in second place but with a very respectable35% share of the American e-book reader market. However, there are a host of other companies who have watched the rapid development of the e-book reader market and now want a piece of the action. This year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) had a separate section for e-book readers for the first time ever. Over two dozen companies - some of them household names, others less well known - had e-book readers on display. This is a clear indication of the business community’s faith in this market segment.

However, what many of these e-book reader wannabes may be overlooking is the fact that the reader’s technical features, as important as they are, are part of the big picture. The success of Amazon’s Kindle reader thus far has been the product of a variety of different factors over and above its technical specification. Amazon occupies an almost unique position which gives it several advantages when it comes to marketing both e-book readers and the e-books to use on them.

, the largest book seller in the world – bar none. In the eyes of the buying public, it therefore enjoys a very strong association with books. It also has a strong association with consumer electronic devices – admittedly in the capacity of a merchant – but there is a strong perceived relationship nonetheless. Of course, the Kindle has now positioned Amazon as a manufacturer (although they subcontract the manufacture) in a big way.

So, in reality, those manufacturers who imagine that they can mount a serious challenge to Amazon just by producing a reader which has a few extra technical features than the Kindle, or is a little bit, are probably going to get an unpleasant surprise when the sales returns start rolling in. It probably requires another instantly recognisable household name who is both trusted and respected to make any serious impact on the market right now. The likes of Apple or Microsoft would be prime contenders – and both companies have readers, or devices which could be used to read e-books at least, in development.With their already established association with e-books – and their already respectable market share – it would also be unwise to discount Sony. Barnes and Noble? Maybe.

One thing’s assured, no small electronics manufacturer is about to mount a serious challenge to Amazon’s current market domination. Tie ups, such as Barnes and Noble’s agreement to provide e-books for the Que reader, might throw up a few surprises. However, unless there is a truly astonishing development in the offing, it looks like the Kindle reader is actually going to become the literary world’s equivalent of the iPod.