Attack of the Kindle Killers:The Boom in New E-Readers

[sforce]

"Attack of the Kindle Killers:The Boom in New E-Readers"

"Success breeds imitators. Amazon is about to be attacked by a squadron of would-be Kindle killers being brought to market by some of the biggest names in consumer electronics and publishing. To complicate the increasingly competitive landscape even further, Apple and, according to rumor, Microsoft are working on tablet computers that could prove to be handy e-readers but with more functions and features, such as video display capability and full web browsers. "2009 is a breakout year for e-readers," says Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with Forrester Research. "But we're still in the early stages.""

http://www.time.com/time/business/ar...929387,00.html

[afv011]

This can only be good news for consumers, more competition should drive prices down.

[Ea]

Hopefully it will drive Amazon to re-think their monopolistic strategy and at least open up for books bought elsewhere.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Ea

Hopefully it will drive Amazon to re-think their monopolistic strategy and at least open up for books bought elsewhere.

I doubt they'll do that. If anything they'll just put the Kindle store on more devices besides Kindles to sell more books. It's been on the iPhone/iTouch for a while, I'd be shocked if we don't see it getting on more devices once some tablet devices etc. come out.

They're a book seller first, hardware company second.

[JeremyZ]

Let's not get too excited unyil we see how much these magical tablet PCs cost, as well as how much their screens resemble the printed page.

[rcuadro]

Originally Posted by afv011

This can only be good news for consumers, more competition should drive prices down.

[carlobee]

2009 is the breakout year.. but 2010 will be the "major" breakout year.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by JeremyZ

Let's not get too excited unyil we see how much these magical tablet PCs cost, as well as how much their screens resemble the printed page.

Yeah, they will never replace e-readers most likely. The screen won't be good for long term reading, and they'll cost more due to basically being PCs and having other software included.

Just be something someone like myself--academics, business folk--who need to read and mark up stuff easily with a stylus will find useful. I've stuck with paper for work as I have to be able to mark up stuff quickly, so I'm interested in some tablets that are fairly small and light with good touch/stylus screens. Don't care much about whether it looks like paper etc. as I wouldn't be reading on it for hours and hours at a time.

[fugazied]

The tablets won't be just e-readers, you are taking devices which can do hundreds of things. Either current ebook massively come down in price and just remain e-book readers, OR they start getting more features so they can have a chance of competing with the tablets coming in 2010 and on.

Unless they are 50% cheaper than a tablet they will get pushed out of the market by devices which do pretty much 'everything' including reading ebooks.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

Yeah, they will never replace e-readers most likely. The screen won't be good for long term reading, and they'll cost more due to basically being PCs and having other software included.

Never is a long time. And while the first wave of new tablets may still only employ glossy LCDs, but I honestly expect at some point hybrid displays like Pixel Qi, Mirasol, and possibly Electrowetting will catch on. Plus higher costs could, in the long term, be offset by higher demand.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

Never is a long time. And while the first wave of new tablets may still only employ glossy LCDs, but I honestly expect at some point hybrid displays like Pixel Qi, Mirasol, and possibly Electrowetting will catch on. Plus higher costs could, in the long term, be offset by higher demand.

Yeah I didn't mean the screen and battery life can't eventually be as good.

But cost will always be higher probably (regardless of demand) just for the need for more power, more bundled software to do more things etc.

Vs. a simple e-reader which needs no extra software and not much processing power.

So I can still see simple e-readers selling for VERY cheap even a decade down the road as a simple to use alternative for people who just want something to read on and don't need/want any other features.