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Fri, 20 Nov 2009 Apple Tablet may be the reason e-readers fail

The Apple Tablet and iPhone may be one reason e-readers fail, but analysts think they're weak anyway

Matt Hamblen, Computerworld US

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The Nook e-reader will debut on 30 November at Barnes & Noble Inc. stores, joining several new electronic reading devices hitting the US market soon.

iRex Technologies recently launched the iRex DR800SG, adding to recently announced Amazon Kindle devices and newer Sony Readers. Plastic Logic Ltd. will unveil the QUE in early January with a focus on business professionals. And, Spring Design Inc. has announced the Alex.

With this profusion of dedicated e-reader devices, analysis firm iSuppli Corp. predicts that 13 million e-readers will be sold next year, up from about 5 million in 2009.

Some projections for 2010 are less than half that of iSuppli's, however. Analysis firm MediaIdeas projects that only 5 million devices will be sold, despite the 40 different dedicated devices that will be available.

But some analysts says it is simply too early into the development of e-readers to know what could happen with sales. Gartner Inc.'s Allen Weiner said smartphones or tablet computers could become an effective alternative to e-readers, with Apple Inc. possibly stealing all the attention with a tablet-sized device that functions as an e-reader.

"The market for single-purpose e-readers might never take," Weiner told Computerworld. "We really have no idea whether people will decide to read books on smartphones [instead of e-readers] and no idea what Apple will do."

But he said that, despite rumors of a tablet-type Apple device early in 2010, "There's still a good chance Apple will do nothing."

Weiner believes Apple is planning something that can rival e-readers, since Apple is talking to book publishers, but that is not any guarantee of a product in early 2010.

"Either the e-reader is going to take off like a rocket, or go into the technology Hall of Fame," Weiner said. "There is a thirst and a market for e-books and a thirst and market for dedicated e-book readers, but it is not clear how large yet."

Various analysts have named at least eight potential obstacles to the wide adoption of e-readers, even though it is obvious that large companies like Amazon, Google Inc., Barnes & Noble and others have invested millions of dollars in researching technology for displaying digital text clearly through e-ink technology, and probably have conducted extensive market research as well.

All the major US telecom carriers are also involved, offering wireless connections to users who download e-books with the wireless cost included in the price of the book. Sprint Nextel Inc. was the first, working with Kindle devices.

Despite those investments, here are the eight main concerns about the future of e-readers:

NEXT: The price factor

Continued...
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | NEXT >

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Comments received


VC said on Fri, 20 Nov 2009

Sorry - how do you get that headline?

Pb&j said on Fri, 20 Nov 2009

I think the reporter is implying that..
1) ppl are waiting for Apple to do something, so may not buy until Apple comes out with a reader/tablet
2) ppl may want to read on their iTouch/iPhone.. although I think long term its too much of a strain.
3) Apple does not make a reader, and the market falls away.
4) Publishers "fight" with Apple for more money.. stalemate for a longtime, henec no one wins or makes any money (well apart from the publsihers).

Personally... I dont mind getting my news etc online... but a good novel... hhmmm hardcopy please!

iGav said on Fri, 20 Nov 2009

Apple showing interest in Adobe AIR technology? When hell freezes over - where is the evidence - AIR on the iPhone - nope and the likelihood of AIR or Flash on a tablet will be zilch. It is far more likely that Apple will leverage HTML 5 technologies on the tablet rather than being caught with someone else's proprietary format

@Pb&j said on Fri, 20 Nov 2009

I think the reporter is talking pap.
1) Readers are already available and doing okay.
2) PPl can read on all sorts of devices, not just apple.
3) The world exists regardless of apple and not because of them.
4) Publishers can do deals with other ebook makers.

I do however agree - hard copies for me.

skew said on Sat, 21 Nov 2009

This article is SEVEN pages long! SEVEN!!! Each page only a couple of hundred words long. Why? Adverts, Macworld is all about the ads these days. I know they have to make money but they've got it all wrong. First intrusive full page pop ups and now this. I can't think of anywhere on the net that's as bad as MW.

@skew said on Sun, 22 Nov 2009

Mate, get Firefox & adblocker. Makes this site usable again.

Tom said on Sun, 22 Nov 2009

Wonder if you can smoke near them?

www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/22/apple_allegedly_voids_smokers_warranties/

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