Electronic book readers have been available for quite some time now. The original, which is generally agreed to have been the eBookman by Franklin, was released in 1999, more than ten years ago. Further devices were released, notably the original Amazon Kindle in November 2007 which actually lagged behind the Sony PRS reader which had launched in 2006.

It was only in 2009 that e-book readers really cauht the public imagination. Without ignoring the contribution of Sony in any way, most of the credit for this must surely go to Amazon. The launch of the Kindle 2.0 in February 2009 quickly followed by the launch of the larger DX reader in June caused generated a lot of publicity and established e-book readers as the hot gadget of the year. The Kindle rapidly established itself as Amazon’s number one selling product and was the most gifted Amazon item ever over the 2009 festive period. Both Barnes and Noble and Sony had released their own new readers in time for the Christmas season, but uncertainty about delivery in time for Xmas, coupled with the already established dominance of the Kindle reader meant that Amazon swept the boards.

There is currently a good selection of readers to choose from. The list of companies who are developing their own e-book readers is both long and impressive. For the first time ever, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas in January 2010, had a separate section dedicated to e-book readers. Most industry analysts are predicting that 2010 is going to be an even more successful year for e-book readers and we can probably anticipate continuing growth in the rate of sales.

In effect, the e-book reader sector is a brand new market sector which didn’t exist, at least not in any meaningful way, until very recently. Apart from the companies who manufacture e-book readers, there are implications for publishers, educational institutions, independent suppliers and of course, the reading public.

The sudden development of this market segment has proved to excellent news for companies such as M-Edge who manufacture a wide range of Kindle accessories including reading lights, covers, chargers and so on. There are many other accessory suppliers who are also benefiting. At the moment, there is a strong concentration on products aimed at the Kindle reader, but as the market expands and other readers increase in popularity these will also afford profitable opportunities to the independents.

The e-book reader market is still nascent. It is developing and expanding at a rapid pace. Amazon was instrumental in the development of the market up to now and enjoys a 60% share of the American market as a consequence of this. In 2010, their dominant position is going to be challenged, as will Sony’s current second place (with a highly respectable 35% market share). However, this new market offers plenty of opportunity for companies with the vision and innovative skills to establish a presnce for themselves at this early stage.