The e-book reader market is still relatively new, but has tremendous potential for growth in the very near future. Up until now, the Amazon Kindle reader family has been the undisputed market leader. Amazon’s Kindle 2, launched in February of 2009 – and the large display Kindle DX, released in June of 2009, have totally dominated the market and have had no competition to speak of. The importance of the market, and its potential size, can be demonstrated by the fact that the Kindle is now Amazon’s number top selling product.
However, there are plenty of manufacturers with new readers in the pipeline, many of which are planned for release before the end of the year with some others to follow in the early part of 2010. Two of the main contenders for the Kindle’s crown are the Sony Daily Edition reader and the Nook reader from Barnes and Noble. Both of these were planned for launch in mid-December 2009, in time to catch the pre-Christmas sales rush.
The new Sony Daily Edition, which retails at $ 399, is now available for pre-order. Sony are giving no guarantee that the readers will be delivered before Christmas. According to the company’s official website, they will start shipping pre-orders on December 18 and customers will receive them on a “first come first served basis”. The number of people who have enquired about the Daily Edition has exceeded Sony’s initial expectations and whilst Sony will try to get the readers out in time for the big day, no guarantees are in place at this time.
Meanwhile, Barnes and Noble’s Nook reader, which was also intended to have a mid-December roll-out, has had its despatch date delayed until January 2010 for any orders received after November 20. High demand is, once again, noted as the reason for the delay.
In an attempt to make at least some holiday sales, Barnes and Noble is offering a “holiday certificate” for the Nook which advises the lucky gift recipient that they should receive their device early in 2010. Hardly the same as the real thing on Christmas morning – is it?
So, whilst all the signs are there that the e-book market is going to grow very big, very fast during the course of next year, for the moment at least, Amazon is still number one and is likely to clean up in the holiday gift stakes. Competition will certainly increase dramatically next year, but Amazon has a pretty clear run at sales this Christmas at least. It will be very surprising if Amazon doesn’t aggressively defend its number one slot next year – at the moment they supply 60% of the U.S. e-book reader market) and it should be interesting to see what unfolds. The main beneficiaries of all this heightened competition will be consumers as there will be a downward pressure on price levels.