Electronic Books Are Increasing In Popularity
E-book sales during the first six months of 2010 were 183% higher than for the equivalent period in 2009, according to the Association of American Publishers. Forrester Research estimated that 11 million Americans would own a digital reading device by the end of September 2010.
It appears that e-book readers are encouraging people to read more. Owners of the Amazon Kindle Reader are reported to buy 3.3 times as many books following the purchase of their Kindle than they did before they had their reader.
Amazon is, without a doubt, the biggest e-book seller at the moment. They offer 700,000 Kindle books for sale on their website – and there are a further 1.8 million out of copyright books that can be downloaded for free. Amazon has, rather cleverly, made a whole variety of free apps available for a number of different devices which allow users to read Kindle books without the requirement for a Kindle reader. Whilst this may have had some small negative impact on the sale of Kindle readers, it has proven to be a very successful strategy for Amazon who now enjoy a reported 80% share of the e-book market.
The sales of e-book readers grew exponentially during 2009 – heavily influenced by the release of the Amazon Kindle 2.0 reader in February of that year. Currently they remain a niche product – but they are starting to spread beyond the early adopters. Recent price reductions, in response to the release of the Apple iPad which can, amongst numerous other things, be used as an e-book reader, have helped to make e-book readers more appealing to prospective customers.
The Kindle became Amazon’s most gifted item ever over the 2009 festive season. It’s their top selling item right now – and it looks set to hold the top slot for some time to come. The third generation Kindle launch at the start of August has been a very effective counter to the iPad – and the Kindle is now flying off the shelves.
There’s little doubt that the public has grown accustomed to the idea of both e-books and e-book readers by now. At the moment it seems that there is sufficient room in the market for both the specialist Kindle and the iPad’s versatility. Only time will tell if this situation will continue, or whether there will be a gradual shift to a more versatile type of e-book reader when Amazon eventually develop color e-ink technology displays,. However, e-books are here to stay, and will make up a larger and larger proportion of total book sales in future.
