The Public Are Getting Used To E-Books by Adam Kinross

E-book sales rose by 183% during the first half of 2010 compared to the equivalent period of 2009 according to the Association of American Publishers. It was predicted that 11 million US citizens would own some form of digital reading device by the close of September 2010.

It looks like e-book readers are actively encouraging people to read more than they usually would. Owners of the Amazon Kindle reader are estimated to buy 3.3 times as many books following the purchase of their Kindle than they did before they had their reader.

Currently, Amazon is the biggest seller of e-books by a long way. They have more than 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, very cleverly, made a whole range of free apps available for a variety of different devices so that users can read Kindle books without needing to use a Kindle reader. This could potentially reduce Kindle reader hardware sales - but Amazon are obviously content to run the risk in order to secure sales of Kindle books.

E-book readers really took off in 2009 - a phenomenon triggered mainly by the launch of Amazon's Kindle 2.0 reader in February of that year. They should probably still be regarded as a niche product - but they are starting to spread beyond the early adopters. E-book reader price reductions, provoked by the launch of Apple's iPad which can be used as an e-book reader (among many other things), have certainly helped to make e-book readers more attractive to potential customers.

Over the festive season of 2009, the Kindle reader became Amazon's most gifted item ever. It's their top selling item right now - and it looks set to hold the top slot for some time to come. The release of the third generation Kindle at the beginning of August has proved to be a good response to Apple's iPad - and the Kindle is now selling like hot cakes.

There's little doubt that the public has quickly become accustomed to the concept of both e-books and e-book readers now. For the moment it looks like there is ample room in the market for both the specialist Kindle and the multi-functional iPad. Time will tell if this situation will continue, or whether there will be an inexorable shift to a more versatile type of e-book reader when Amazon complete the development of color e-ink technology screens. However, e-books are going to be a permanent feature of the publishing landscape going forward and seem likely to make up an increasing percentage of total book sales in the near future.



Learn more about the Amazon Kindle reader for yourself and view the broad range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.



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