Yankee Group: eReader sales to reach $8.2 billion by 2014

Boston Globe: "Global sales of e-readers such as the Kindle are projected to reach $8.2 billion by 2014, according to a new report from Yankee Group, a Boston-based market research firm. That's up from 2010 sales of nearly $1.9 billion, or from about 11 million units last year to a projected 72 million in unit sales in 2014, Yankee Group said. And by 2014, the average retail price for an e-reader device should be $114, down from a 2010 average of $182, Yankee Group said. ... "

Amazon Kindle, Other E-Reader Sales Will Only Increase: Gartner

eWeek: "In Gartner’s estimation, worldwide e-reader sales will total 6.6 million units in 2010, a 79.8 percent increase from 2009. Moreover, the research firm predicts that e-reader sales will increase 68.3 percent in 2011, to more than 11 million units."

Codex Group: 21% of Book Shoppers Now Own Dedicated eReader or Tablet - And These Numbers are pre-Christmas

Publishers Weekly: "The launch of the iPad and price cuts to the Kindle resulted in a significant increase in the number of digital reading devices owned by consumers between June and November, with 21% of book shoppers now owning a dedicated e-reader or tablet. The finding is part of the Codex Group's most recent national book shopper survey, which polled 6,250 book buyers on various aspects of their book-buying habits. Codex estimated that the introduction of the $139 Kindle in July helped to spur sales of 800,000 units between June and mid-November, with total units sold estimated at 2.7 million. The growth in Kindle unit sales drove overall e-reader penetration among book shoppers to 14% in November, and penetration levels could reach 22% by mid-2011, Codex predicted. The forecast is based on a dramatic increase in the number of book buyers stating they plan to buy a digital reading device this year."

The Sony Reader is Doomed

The Digital Reader: "For 3 years now, Sony have consistently been a step behind everyone else. In 2008, they released the PRS-700, an e-reader that still causes people to wince at the sight of the touchscreen (no Wifi). In 2009 they released the PRS-300 and PRS- 600 (still no Wifi) and then followed it up with the PRS-900 in January (3G but still no Wifi). I think the PRS-900 marked the beginning of the end for Sony. B&N shipped the Nook in November, and in terms of innovation that shifted Sony from 2nd place to 3rd place in the US market. And in 2010 it has only gotten worse. Pocketbook released the Wifi equipped PB-302 e-reader in February, It wasn’t a great e-reader, but it still did something no Sony Reader could do.And then the Kobo Wifi got Sony kicked out of Wal-mart (5th place now). ..."

The eReader Incompetence Checklist

Satellite — Craig Mod: "The bottom line is: most of our ereading experiences are pretty bad. And many of us don't realize it. iPad is still a baby — barely six months old! — so we're clearly still in a developmental and experimentation phase. But I feel like many readers, authors, editors and publishers simply don't know how to assess their digital reading experience. I always like to follow up schpeels with URLs, so consider this the followup URL to my ereader schpeel if we've ever met in person. In order to assess something we need a rubric. Criteria. Standards. Metrics. A baseline. So let's set one together. ..."

Analyst: 35 Million eReaders to Ship by 2014

Report: "Despite stiff competition from the growing tablet market, eReader sales are expected to grow, according the analyst firm In-Stat. The firm's numbers indicate eReader shipments will increase from 12 million devices this year, to 35 million by 2014. ... "

Huawei’s T62W eBook Reader Hits the FCC

Wireless Goodness: "It looks like there will be another competitor entering the already crowded eBook reader market. Chinese telecom equipment supplier Huawei passed the T62W eBook reader through the FCC today. The eInk-based eBook reader features 3G support on WCDMA networks, 802.11 b/g WiFi and Bluetooth."

Somebody Blow "Taps" for the Borders Kobo e-Reader

I've been forecasting the still-birth of the Borders Kobo e-Reader for some time now, primarily given its lack of not only 3G, but WiFi as well. And last week its sole major distinction - that of being the cheapest Reader on the market - went out the window when Nook WiFi emerged - competitively priced, WITH WiFi, and also of course with the very nice Nook ergonomics. This from PC World yesterday:

Awkward Buttons

The Kobo has a bright blue navigational pad, which happens to be the e-reader's most awkward feature. ITWire wrote, "Eventually, after more than an hour of reading time, your hand and fingers will start to ache due to repetitive strain from pressing the button hundreds of times."

PCWorld agreed: "... the buttons still provide enough resistance that my hands fatigued after using them for more than a 15-minute block of time."

No 3G or Wi-Fi is a Bummer

It's fine that the Kobo doesn't have all the fancy features of its competition, but without 3G or Wi-Fi connectivity, the Kobo immediately presents itself as something circa 1994.

Wirelessly connecting to and downloading from an e-bookstore has become an essential feature since other e-readers sport that capability. As it stands, if you want to download from the Kobo e-bookstore, or Borders' upcoming e-bookstore, you need to do so with a computer and the mini-USB cable. Sony's e-reader made the same mistake.

Sure, there's an app for the Kobo, but that requires either Bluetooth syncing or a sync via your PC. Plus, as ZDNet points out, you can't choose what books you'd like in your library -- the Kobo syncs them all.

The Verdict

When "competent" and "decent" are the best adjectives you can get in a review, you're in trouble. The only way I can see the Kobo surviving the battle of the e-readers is if the price is lowered by at least $50. That way its barebones makeup would be justified by its price.

The price cut suggested would put the retail tag of the Kobo well below manufacturing cost, so I don't see that happening.

Kindle App Update for iPhone iOS4 - And the Illusion of eReader Hardware Wars

These hardware price wars are, in the long run, something of a joke. Amazon and B&N are both in the business of selling books, regardless of what platform they are read on. Thus we are given all of these great cross-platform apps, including the latest update from Amazon.

Jason Perlow: Nook, Kindle and Other Dedicated eReaders Headed the Way of the Dinosaur

Writing on ZDNet, Jason Perlow foretells the mass extinction of the dedicated, unitasking eReader as a class of hardware, with the long-term market moving to the iPad, etc. and also inexpensive Android devices. A very interesting and informed analysis, which starts with a reference to this week's price-slashes for Kindles and Nooks:

Where is that bottom? I don’t know exactly, but I can tell you that it is very close to device manufacturing cost, which is somewhere between $90 and $125.

And unfortunately, Amazon and Barnes & Noble will be unable to sustain a business on the devices when it hits that low, because the price of the most important and expensive component of those Black & White e-ink readers, the Vizplex display, is controlled by a company that exclusively manufactures and owns the rights to the electrophoretic technology used in these devices, E Ink Corporation.

The “give away the razors and sell the blades” model doesn’t work with dedicated e-book readers because Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s customer base is increasingly becoming iPad and iPhone users, and shortly will also be Android phone and tablet users.

In which case, there’s no reason to sell “razors” at all, especially since Android Tablets will be made out of commodity parts, will use cheap LCD display technology and will be far more capable, and many will be priced in the $200-$300 range and well within striking distance of the current price of dedicated e-readers.

Indeed, e-ink may be superior for daytime reading, and at least for the time being, the hardcore reader types, most of which are Boomers, will go out and buy Kindles and Nooks for their content consumption this summer at the beach.

But the Millennials will only be interested in their iPhones, iPads and Droids, with brilliant and sharp color displays, and the App versions of these e-book stores will suit most of these people fine, at least for the remaining ones that still like to read books.

In the next year Vizplex e-Ink will almost certainly be revved to color technology, but for the dedicated reading device, it will be too late.

By then, different competing high-performance transflective LCD displays will be on the scene, manufactured in huge volumes ...

Amazon Responds - Kindle (with 3G) for $189

The latest in today's price cuts. Late this afternoon, Amazon brought the price of a Kindle down to $189. The cut is obviously a response to Barnes & Noble's news of earlier today. From The New York Times:

“It was obvious that the price of standalone e-readers had to come down,” said James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research, citing the threat by Apple and other tablet makers. “We just never thought it was going to happen this rapidly.”

Analysts had expected the prices of e-readers would gradually fall because of the natural decline in component costs and the increased profitability of e-books themselves.

Until this spring, e-book sellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble sold many bestselling e-books at a loss, in order to entice customers. But then five of the six major American publishers agreed with Apple to change to a so-called “agency” sales model. Under the new agreement, booksellers were required to raise prices on many digital books and got to keep a 30 percent commission on the sales, which now allows them to sacrifice some profit on their hardware.

The price cuts should add further momentum to what, despite incursions by the iPad, has been a growing market for dedicated e-reading devices. Amazon and rivals are on pace to sell 6.6 million e-reading devices this year, up from 3.1 million in 2009, according to Forrester.

But even as the market grows, several smaller players have encountered problems. iRex Technologies, based in the Netherlands, recently sought protection from creditors in Dutch bankruptcy court, citing problems with its division in the United States. Earlier this month, the Skiff e-reading platform, developed by Hearst, was acquired by News Corp., casting doubts about the planned introduction of a Skiff reading device.

“I don’t see more than two, or maybe three dedicated reading companies in the market for selling e-books,” said William J. Lynch, chief executive of Barnes & Noble, in an interview. “I think you are starting to see a shakeout now.”

Mr. Lynch also predicted that within 12 months, e-reading devices “that people will actually want to buy” could be available for under $100.

Nook WiFi Confirmed Plus Drop of 3G Nook Price to $199

Check TechCrunch. The cheaper model includes free WiFi at all AT&T Hot Spots.

Cheaper "Nook WiFi" About to Ship From Barnes & Noble?

electronista reports:

A leak from Barnes & Noble's inventory system is likely to have confirmed rumors of an entry level Nook coming by the end of spring. The listing for a "Nook WiFi" shows it shipping for $149 on June 23. Not much else is detailed by Engadget's insider, but prior leaks had it stripping out 3G to fall below the regular Nook's $249 asking price.

In the short-term, this Nook WiFi (Nook Lite) will really pose a significant challenge to the generally-unimpressive Kobo eReader (Borders-affiliated) which sells for the same price but has no touch-screen interface and no WiFi. Not so much the Kindle, which incorporates 3G and stands on a par technically and price-wise with the standard Nook. In the longterm, the launch of Nook WiFi is the first step on what seems an inevitable trail for the major dedicated eReaders (Kindle, Nook, Sony eReader) toward increasingly modest hardware price-points while maintaining (if not enhancing) essential functionality - thus creating a niche even more distinctly separate from the tablet market than it is now. Choice for consumers. That's the key.

Note, Nook 2 is in development, as is a major new hardware release for the Kindle.

How to Make eBooks Better - Kevin Rose

Check this short video in which blogger and technology angel investor Kevin Rose itemizes his (perceptive) top five wish-list for improving eBooks and taking them to the next level.

Inbound from South Korea - LG and iRiver Partner on an eReader for the American Market

The American version of the iRiver "Story" will supposedly be on sale in about a year. The current Story - distributed in Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, China and Russia - is a fairly robust device with a price just under $300. The dedicated eReader can handle all essential eBook formats, runs Linux (despite some blog posts and press reports to the contrary), and features a 6 inch E-ink screen. It will be interesting to see what design changes happen, since iRiver and LG must realize they'll have to up the specs (and lower the price) considerably in order to even have a chance against Kindle, Nook etc. The ghost of iRex is watching. Read more in the Wall Street Journal's "Digits" blog. Note that the Journal gets the Story's operating system wrong, claiming it runs Windows. It doesn't.

Kindle on iPad

Commenting on his experience of the iPad for the reading of eBooks, Atlantic senior editor Clive Crook indicates a habit of usage that seems to be fairly typical. Kindle books on the iPad platform, using the Kindle app:

[The iPad] is a bit too big. It is a bit too heavy. But one quickly adapts and it soon feels natural. The key thing is that it has replaced my Kindle. Almost. I might still prefer my Kindle on the beach, say, because the screen is easier to read in very bright light and I wouldn't want to get sand on my iPad. In all normal lighting conditions the iPad is a lot easier to read. Friends report eyestrain from the backlit display. This seems to vary from person to person. I have now read half a dozen books on it, and I find it comfortable hour after hour.

I use the Kindle app, rather than Apple's IBooks. I already have a ton (as it were) of Kindle books. It is nice, but inessential, that the iPad app keeps places, bookmarks and notes synchronized across devices. iBooks is better-looking and has search and a dictionary, like the Kindle device but unlike the Kindle app. On the other hand the Kindle app can do white text on black for reading in bed without annoying your wife. For now the main thing is that Amazon's range of titles is much bigger.

New Sony Patent: solar charged e-reader/laptop built from two touchscreens

I missed this, which popped more than a week ago. From VentureBeat:

A patent application filed by Sony depicts a folding two-screen device that can be held like a book, or typed on like a laptop.

The patent paperwork explicitly states that there are “first and second touchscreens,” that “the image of a keyboard” could appear on one screen, and that “electronic book files” would be storable. The device would be “connectable to a solar charger.” ...

Sony’s device seems a more direct attempt to create an alternative to low-cost netbook laptops, one that doubles as a book-like reader. The obvious two benefits are a lower overall price and only one gadget to carry instead of two.

The concept of a laptop with a touchscreen keyboard has a novelty appeal, but it also says something about the intended market: Unlike the road warriors of the past who carried top-of-the-line laptops for constant typing, there’s a new demographic of mobile content consumers and producers that sticks to short messages. They don’t need a ThinkPad-grade keyboard to type on. Hopefully for Sony, they’ll be able to build a sexy-looking device that can serve as a status symbol like the company’s early Vaio laptops. ...

iRex/Illiad Troubles

From MobilitySite:

iRex, the Dutch company that produced the Illiad ebook reader for several years, and recently started selling their new DR800 reader in Best Buy stores has filed for Chapter 11. Whether they will proceed to bankruptcy isn’t clear yet, but iRex brass are apparently hopeful this can be turned around. Analysts are less so.

It's not hard to see where iRex’s troubles have stemmed from. It has zero consumer name recognition in a field that is now populated by Amazon and Barnes & Noble and Sony and…oh yeah, Apple. Beyond that iRex doesn’t have it’s own online bookstore, which is a prime moneyspinner and awareness factory for those four competitors I already mentioned. ...

From China: The Green Book - "World's Lightest eReader"

From Inhabit.com:

Want an e-reader that’s lighter, smaller, and more streamlined than either the iPad or the Kindle? You can have one — if you speak Chinese. Taiwanese company Green Book Inc. recently unveiled the Green Book — the world’s lightest e-reader — at the Computex Taipei trade show.

The pocket-sized Green Book weighs just 0.4 pounds, compared to the iPad’s 1.5 pounds. Green Book offers a tiny six inch screen and 32 gigabytes of memory, or enough memory to store 30,000 books. The device can read 8,000 pages per full battery charge — more than enough for a week’s worth of reading sessions.

But despite the Green Book’s impressive portability, Amazon and Apple won’t have too much to worry about in the English-speaking world. Unlike the Kindle and iPad, Green Book is intended primarily for Chinese-language titles.

Consumer Reports: Kindle Best Value Among eReaders

From Consumer Reports:

Despite improvement to the rival Barnes & Noble Nook e-book reader and the arrival of Apple’s iPad tablet computer, which offers e-reader capability, Amazon’s Kindle is still the best choice for most consumers. ...

Consumer Reports testers recently put nine e-book readers through comprehensive lab tests. Amazon’s Kindle, $260, and its super-sized sibling, the Kindle DX, $490, had crisper, more readable type than any other model ...

The Kindles were among the fastest at refreshing and turning pages. For most users, the lower-priced Kindle is a better choice than the DX because of its lighter weight and smaller size, unless extra real estate is needed for reading content such as e-textbooks.

Two e-readers from Sony – the Daily Edition PRS900BC, $400, and the Touch Edition PRS600SC, $280, were solid performers in Consumer Reports lab tests and noted for their versatility – including their ability to be used as digital notepads for text or drawings. However, the Daily Edition is expensive and heavy and the Touch Edition is among the rated models that do not feature unlimited, free, 3G wireless data network access which means consumers cannot download books whenever and wherever they want.

Consumer Reports found that Barnes & Noble’s Nook is among the faster models at turning pages, but its type was not quite as crisp as the Kindle’s and it weighs more even though both models have the same 6-inch screen size. Navigating content on the Nook was more complicated and touch controls were nonintuitive.

Consumer Reports also tested e-readers from three lesser-known brands – the Aluratek Libre eBook Reader Pro, $170, the BeBook Neo, $300, and the iRex DR 800SG, $400 – and found that all were undistinguished at best.

[Consumer Reports excluded the iPad from the formal comparative study and ranking, on the grounds that it is a diversified tablet PC as opposed to a dedicated eReader. Nevertheless, the article does speak to the iPad's eReader capabilities:]

The iPad’s iBook app, one of at least three available for the device, offers fast page turns, with a dazzling virtual image one page curling back to reveal another, and the full-color screen is more eye-catching than the monochrome displays on the e-book readers.

Type on its LCD touch screen is fine, though it is slightly less crisp than that of the best e-book readers. Compared to the most expensive e-book reader tested, Amazon’s Kindle DX, $490, Apple’s iPad is more expensive costing $500 and up and substantially heavier at 24 ounces versus the Kindle DX’s weight of 19 ounces. Consumer Reports recommends buying the iPad for e-books only if consumers are willing to compromise to get a multifunction device.