Quote:
Originally Posted by Rizla
As it stands, even with their comparatively small e-book sales, the European markets display greater choice of device than the US market. That's counter-intuitive.
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Not really.
Technology product categories behave exactly like that in their immature phase. In most every emerging consumer tech category for decades (calculators, digital watches, video game consoles, PCs, media players, etc) the pattern has been the same: a seminal product establishes the commercial viability, dozens or hundreds of small players jump in, a clear leader emerges that takes the product mainstream (not always the prime mover), the smaller players follow the leader (cloning it if possible) producing a bubble followed by a collapse and consolidation.
As far as the US is concerned, we are in the consolidation phase. The switch to near-cost pricing brought in hordes of ebook-focused buyers and switched the focus from the hardware to the books.
In the continental markets they still haven't reach mainstream acceptance and without mainstream acceptance and a clear market leader, there is more room for variation and the small players haven't grown or been weeded out. It is possible ebooks never reach mainstream acceptance just as it is possible that they do but dedicated readers don't. (There have been hints that in India cellphones are the vehicle for mainstreaming ebooks.)
Each market and each region is different, they tend to develop differently even when they end in the same location. Which is never guaranteed. (Look at the auto markets, re: fuels and engine designs.)