Amazon And Apple Have Seized Control Of The Electronic Book Arena

It seems that e-book readers have been hot items for quite some time now. The market for e-book readers really took off in 2009, and one of the most important influences on this was the launch of Amazon’s Kindle.0 in February of that year. Amazon followed up with the launch of the large format Kindle DX in the summer of 2009 and, in the second half of the year, manufacturers of personal electronics were lining up to release their own e-book readers and secure a share of the emerging market. The fact that almost every new reader which showed any promise was instantly given the title of the “Kindle Killer” is a clear indication of just how important Amazon were to the market’s development. The Kindle reader was, without a doubt, the industry standard that had to be matched and subsequently beaten.

However, there was nothing to suggest that the reader which would offer serious competition to the Kindle was anywhere in sight. It was only with the launch of Apple’s iPad – a significantly different type of device – that the Kindle’s dominance was in any way threatened. Even then, the death of the Kindle as a result of consumers turning to the iPad just doesn’t seem to have materialised. Following the launch of the newly enhanced Kindle 3 in August 2010 Amazon, for the umpteenth time it seems, was out of stock of the devices and potential customers faced a wait of several weeks before their new readers could be shipped.

There can’t be much doubt that the Kindle’s high sales figures can, to some extent, be explained by the fact that the latest upgrades were also accompanied by a price reduction. Amazon introduced a new Wi-Fi only Kindle for just $ 139 for customers who didn’t have any need for 3G connectivity. If you consider that the Kindle 2.0 launch price was $ 359 in February of 2009, that’s a hefty price reduction. It moves the Kindle – and e-book readers in general – much closer to the sub $ 100 impulse buying zone for personal electronic devices. Whether this was prompted by the appearance of the iPad on the scene is probably a moot point. It seems clear that the price reduction would have taken place anyway, but there is still plenty of room for further downward price movement – quite possibly in the not too distant future.

Amazon and Apple may be enjoying a good deal of success, but the same cannot be said for other e-book reader manufacturers. Several planned e-book readers have either been postponed or cancelled all together. The Que reader from Plastic Logic seems to be pretty well dead. Irex, a previously well established Dutch company, went bankrupt following disappointing US sales figures for their Irex reader. The Skiff reader, from Sprint and Hearst has been cancelled.

Could we be heading towards a strongly polarised market in which Amazon dominate the low cost “pure” e-book reader sector and Apple clean up in the pricier tablet computer that also serves as an e-book reader market? There is a massive difference in the retail prices of the Kindle and even the entry level iPad. Is there sufficient space between the two devices, in terms of both specification and price levels, to allow new players to enter the market?

Recently Amazon confirmed that sales of Kindle books are outstripping the sales of hardback editions. It seems highly probable that e-book sales will catch up with and eventually overtake paperback sales – and probably in the not too distant future. It seems certain that e-books are going to be an important part in the future of reading, but just what type of device will you use to read them on?