Remote Control Toys

For the first time ever, the organisers of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), being held in Las Vegas, have set aside a dedicated area for e-book readers. It’s perfectly understandable of course – there are a minimum of two dozen different manufacturers showing off e-book readers at the show.

The heightened level of interest, both from electronics manufacturers and the public is no big surprise. After all, 2009 was a very successful year for e-book readers. And there’s every indication that 2010 will be even better.

Of course, much of the credit for the huge buzz surrounding e-book readers in 2009 should be given to Amazon’s Kindle reader. The release of first the Kindle 2.0 in February, swiftly supported by the launch of the larger DX version in June, generated a large amount of good press for e-book readers as a whole and for the Kindle in particular.

The Kindle rapidly went on to become the top selling product on Amazon and, over the 2009 Christmas period, the Kindle became the most gifted item on Amazon. Sales of Kindle books made up 35% of all book sales (where a Kindle edition existed). On Christmas day 2009, for the first time ever, Amazon sold more Kindle books than traditional books.

Public demand, both for e-book readers and the e-books to read on them had been firmly established and now seems set to take off.At the moment, Amazon has a 60% share of the American market and Sony has 35%. Clearly there are many of other manufacturers who want their slice of the pie. On the face of it, they will have a difficult time considering the dominant position of Amazon – but the market is very new and changing and developing at breakneck speed. Rapid expansion seems very likely in the short term and the right product at the right time could rewrite the rules overnight.

Apart from electronics manufacturers, there are other parties who have a vested interest in the growth and development of the e-book reader market. Third party manufacturers who produce various accessories – reading lights (e-book readers are not back-lit), covers, chargers, screen protectors etc. – also stand to benefit from a market that, until very recently, was simply not in existence. Currently, Kindle accessories are, understandably, dominant, but as new readers begin to increase their volume of sales these will, no doubt, also be catered for.

This is going to be a very successful year both for e-book readers and e-books. Next year’s Consumer Electronics shows will also have a separate e-book reader section – but it will probably be considerably larger in size compared with 2010.