Get Ready For Changes In the Ebook Reader Market
There can be little doubt that the ebook reader market is currently dominated by Amazon’s Kindle reader. Many people are under the impression that this is due to the fact that it was first to market, but this is definitely not the case. The truth of the matter is that the Kindle has achieved its dominant position by offering consumers the best combination of hardware and accompanying ebooks available.
The Kindle reader and Kindle books seem to work well together, making it difficult for other readers to achieve any significant market penetration. At the time of writing, there are in excess of 900,000 Kindle books available on Amazon’s website. A further 1.8 million out of copyright books can be downloaded free of charge.
Customers have no shortage of choice. The availability of a wide range of ebooks gives customers the confidence to buy Kindle readers. Sales of Kindle readers inevitably drive sales of Kindle books ever higher. Amazon find themselves benefiting from an upward sales spiral and, unless some other company manages to break into the inner circle, Amazon look likely to be the major force in the ebook and ebook reader market for some time to come.
Just at the moment, the Nook reader from Barnes and Noble seems to be the main competition to the Kindle. Like Amazon, B&N has both the reader and the ebooks to go with it – in fact, they claim to have more titles on offer – 2,000,000 – than Amazon.
Unfortunately, Barnes and Noble’s Nook has been trailing the Kindle in a rather distant second place for quite some time now. However, the Nook has recently been upgraded and enhanced by Barnes and Noble and looks like it could run the Kindle a lot closer in future. Over and above touch screen controls, the upgraded Nook includes a variety of other of attractive features which may well prove to be attractive to potential buyers. It’s a huge step in the right direction for B&N. But is it a Kindle killer? Only time will tell.
One further noteworthy event in the ebook reader market of late was the launch of the iRiver Story HD reader. In fact, the Story HD launched just a fortnight after Barnes and Noble unveiled their upgraded Nook Touch. The Story HD reader possesses an assortment of interesting technical features. It has the world’s first XGA e-ink display for example. With a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels, it beats the 800 x 600 of both the Kindle and the Nook. However, the most interesting thing about the Story HD would be the fact it is the result of a partnership linking iRiver and Google. After having chosen their selections from the huge collection of books on the Google eBookstore, Story HD owners will be able to download them, quickly and easily, to their reader using Wi-Fi.
The combination of Google ebooks and the Story HD reader might well be sufficient to break into the current Kindle vs Nook duopoly and force the ebook reader industry into a three way split in the near future.