Everyday Blog

This has been a huge year for e-book readers – chiefly due to the efforts of Amazon. Amazon released the Kindle 2 in February 2009, which was an improved and enhanced version of the original Kindle which was released in November 2007.

In June of 2009, Amazon followed up with the Kindle DX, which was a large display version of the Kindle 2. It was specifically aimed at readers of magazines, newspapers and academic textbooks – and it caused quite a buzz.

The potential for academic use – from interactive textbooks to constantly updated texts, and not forgetting the opportunity for academic bodies to save a lot of money – attracted a lot of attention. As well as entering into agreements with a number of colleges and universities, Amazon gained a lot of free publicity from political bodies such as the New Democratic Leadership Council and even Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his role as Governor of California.

Thanks to Amazon’s foresight and determination – aided by all the free publicity – the Amazon Kindle reader has now become Amazon’s best selling product.Currently, the Kindle has an incredible 60% share of the U.S. e-book reader market and has recently unveiled an international version. The Kindle has become virtually a byword for e-book readers.

It’s probably worth pointing out that Amazon were, in fact, a late entrant to the e-book reader market. The original e-book reader, the Franklin eBookman, was launched in 1999 – ten years ago. The Sony PRS reader was launched in 2007, prior to the launch of the Kindle 1.

Amazon might not have been first to market – but by combining smart, technical innovation and responsiveness to customer needs, Amazon has attained its current dominant position. The large choice of ebooks available for the Kindle on Amazon’s website and the wireless connectivity (with no monthly fee) were every bit as key to the Kindle’s success as were the technical aspects of the reader.

However, now that Amazon has – almost single handedly – established the market, it seems that all the other consumer electronics manufacturers want their share. Microsoft, Sony, Apple, Barnes and Noble, iRex, Plastic Logic, Asus – the list goes on – all have their own devices set for launch or in the late stages of development.

Wireless connectivity, presently one of Amazon’s unique selling points, will become normal and Barnes and Noble will offer users of their new Nook reader over 1,000,000 titles to choose from. The new Sony Daily Edition reader will allow users to borrow books on loan from participating lending libraries. Meanwhile, there will most likely be a standard e-book format agreed next year, which will allow users to lend e-books to family and friends or transfer them over to other readers if they wish.

Currently, a lot of industry watchers are eyeing the line up of new readers and trying to identify which one is the Kindle Killer. However, Amazon has been very astute so far and they won’t surrender their top position without a fight. It took them less than eighteen months following the launch of the first Kindle to launch the much improved Kindle 2. The DX followed just a few months later. Amazon almost certainly has some ideas for the further development of their e-book readers. Is it possible that the Kindle killer will actually be the Kindle 4 and that we could see this sometime in 2010?