|
I suspect the problem is that too many think that Kindle equals eReader, and lately Amazon has been satisfied to rest on their laurels. The PW2 settled for a refresh of the PW1 and Amazon let a year go by without innovating. In that year Kobo came out of nowhere with a high definition trade paperback sized screen. With that, Kobo started to take over the place B&N had in a year that B&N's eReader took a step backward and Sony responded to a corporation wide retrenchment and left the US market for eReaders altogether.
Amazon still has many advantages over Kobo due to their name, base of users, mature ebook store and, of course, their famous Customer Service, but if they wish to maintain, much less grow their profit margins they can't afford to ignore the customers who buy the most books per capita. Those tend to be the customers who seek out the best reading experience.
Of course eInk has to sell innovative solutions to all potential manufacturers if they want to stay in the game. Isn't that something that all these players want to do?
I think that while gross sales of eInk screens may well fall off, innovative new eReaders with static, front lighted screens, will continue into the foreseeable future.
|