iSuppli: eBook device sales up 108% in 2011

[Kali Yuga]

Hot off the digital equivalent of the presses...

http://www.eeherald.com/section/news/nws201112162.html

"IHS iSuppli has reported unit sales of pure-play ebook reader in 2011to reach 27.1 million units, up a resounding 108 percent from 13.0 million in 2010. The vast majority of these displays are monochrome."

iSuppli expects the growth rates to flatten out, but also thinks education will be a big market for dedicated reading devices.

Cue me smirking at the memories of predictions that tablets would destroy the dedicated market in 3, 2, 1...

[spellbanisher]

Should start a thread posting links to all the articles that said ereaders (specifically the Kindle) would fail.
Here's One!

http://www.livedigitally.com/2007/11...dle-will-fail/

I just read Seth Godin’s thoughts on Kindle. One of the marketing blogs I definitely enjoy, and his post on the topic is pretty good. But he mentions something that again shows me how off the mark even “industry experts” can be. He writes “The challenge that my hero Jeff Bezos has is that if he’s really really lucky, he’ll sell a million of these things in a year.” I think he’s missing about 5+ “really”s here. If he’s lucky he’ll sell 50,000 in a year, really lucky is 100,000, and really really lucky is about 200K. Moving 7 figures worth of hardware per year is VERY VERY hard! VERY hard. And that’s in an established category, let alone a speculative one.

Amazon must be really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really... lucky.
But then again, the author could still be right. After all, Amazon doesn't release sales figures.

[fjtorres]

Moving 7 figures of hardware per year is very hard, yet.
Moving seven figures of hardware per week even more so, even at peak in a seasonal business.
On the other hand...

27+ million for the year, with Amazon still accounting for around 50% of the worldwide total, means they've been averaging around a million a month since last year.
That doesn't sound like luck at all.
More like a solid business model tapping a mainstream market.

[SeaKing]

Realize that most of the crap that was fomented against the Kindle, the Nook, the Kobo, and other dedicated eReaders was from iPad Trolls.

That is right: iPad Trolls.

They believe the big lie told over and over will show that they the Perfect Magic Believers are indeed the chosen of Steve Jobs, the Saint of the Privileged and Self Serving.

So they say "iPad is perfect. Kindle is doomed. iPad is perfect. Kindle is doomed..." After a while they believe it and the media believes it too, and they don't understand that magic is not a quality that Apple can patent!

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

Realize that most of the crap that was fomented against the Kindle, the Nook, the Kobo, and other dedicated eReaders was from iPad Trolls.

That is right: iPad Trolls.

They believe the big lie told over and over will show that they the Perfect Magic Believers are indeed the chosen of Steve Jobs, the Saint of the Privileged and Self Serving.

So they say "iPad is perfect. Kindle is doomed. iPad is perfect. Kindle is doomed..." After a while they believe it and the media believes it too, and they don't understand that magic is not a quality that Apple can patent!

And another thread starts getting derailed by the manic Apple haters... and in only the 4th post... Pretty good considering that most iPad users got their tablets for almost anything but dedicated ereading... if you want to start a war then you'd probably me more accurate to start with the Sony fanbase...

[spellbanisher]

Doubts about the commercial viability of ereaders predates tablets. The article I posted, for instance, was from 2007, whereas the ipad came out in January 2010. When predictions about the viability of ereaders turned out wrong, the critics shifted their predictions from "ereaders will never work" to "tablets will kill ereaders."

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by elcreative

And another thread starts getting derailed by the manic Apple haters... and in only the 4th post... Pretty good considering that most iPad users got their tablets for almost anything but dedicated ereading... if you want to start a war then you'd probably me more accurate to start with the Sony fanbase...

Hey friend. I am calling it like I see it. I get tired of going over to CNET and hearing them carry that if everyone would just get an iPad we could put all this other sh*t behind us, and live happily ever after.

And CNET isn't anywhere near the only ones.

Call it a build up of resentment that is just boiling over.

And by the way Apple makes fine, though expensive machines that tie people up in the chains of the iTunes store.

The hardware - excellent.
Most of the software - excellent.
The attitude - atrocious.

[david_e]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

Realize that most of the crap that was fomented against the Kindle, the Nook, the Kobo, and other dedicated eReaders was from iPad Trolls.

That is right: iPad Trolls.

They believe the big lie told over and over will show that they the Perfect Magic Believers are indeed the chosen of Steve Jobs, the Saint of the Privileged and Self Serving.

So they say "iPad is perfect. Kindle is doomed. iPad is perfect. Kindle is doomed..." After a while they believe it and the media believes it too, and they don't understand that magic is not a quality that Apple can patent!

Do the voices in your head tell you these mystical secrets of the universe or did you decipher it from your morning bowl of Alpha-bits?

In all seriousness, I need to know so that I may inform the covert A-is-for-Apple PsyOps team. Apparently their brainwashing attempts aren't working as planned.

So that I may complete my report, could you please tell me how many layers of aluminum foil you incorporated into your self-made reflector hat?



David_E, chief teaser to the Lord Eunuch of the Supreme Leader of the Republic

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

The hardware - excellent.
Most of the software - excellent.
The attitude - atrocious.

The haters - really, really, tedious.

[SeaKing]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SeaKing View Post
The hardware - excellent.
Most of the software - excellent.
The attitude - atrocious.

Originally Posted by murraypaul

The haters - really, really, tedious.

Sorry guys, it won't wash. Calling me names won't work.

I never attacked the iPad. I just stood up for the "little guys." The Kindles, the Kobo, the Nook. The iPad does what it does, but it is not the comprehensive answer, or even the eReader answer, and some of us don't need it.

If you want to call me a hater because I won't allow the bullying that occurs in the media, CNET, etc., and elsewhere, promoting the iPad while casting aspersions on the other eReaders and their users, then I say you are mistaken, and I will call any casting those dispersions trolls.

Further now that the Kindle Fire is actually daring to go beyond just being a superior reader, the outrage is growing. The revered precepts are threatened and the iDols are shaking in the temples. The experts can't have been wrong, because they are the experts. There is a lot of teeth gnashing.

I actually saw where the forecast for iPads for the coming quarters has been reduced. Can you imagine?

[stonetools]

I think that dedicated ebook readers will always be around, but the big reason why EBR sales have risen so fast is the prices have been slashed to the bone.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

Quote:
Originally Posted by SeaKing View Post
The hardware - excellent.
Most of the software - excellent.
The attitude - atrocious.



Sorry guys, it won't wash. Calling me names won't work.

I never attacked the iPad. I just stood up for the "little guys." The Kindles, the Kobo, the Nook. The iPad does what it does, but it is not the comprehensive answer, or even the eReader answer, and some of us don't need it.

If you want to call me a hater because I won't allow the bullying that occurs in the media, CNET, etc., and elsewhere, promoting the iPad while casting aspersions on the other eReaders and their users, then I say you are mistaken, and I will call any casting those dispersions trolls.

Further now that the Kindle Fire is actually daring to go beyond just being a superior reader, the outrage is growing. The revered precepts are threatened and the iDols are shaking in the temples. The experts can't have been wrong, because they are the experts. There is a lot of teeth gnashing.

I actually saw where the forecast for iPads for the coming quarters has been reduced. Can you imagine?

Didn't call you names, just your attitude but as you've gone on to clarify it... thanks for the confirmation... And the iPad really doesn't get major promotion as an eReader but if you feel CNET represents Apple rather than being a biased commentator then why not read another biased commentator that fits your worldview, probably help keep your blood pressure down as well...

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by spellbanisher

Should start a thread posting links to all the articles that said ereaders (specifically the Kindle) would fail.
Here's One!

http://www.livedigitally.com/2007/11...dle-will-fail/
Amazon must be really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really... lucky.
But then again, the author could still be right. After all, Amazon doesn't release sales figures.

Haha. I get a chuckle when I read stuff like that. The experts say "Such and such is doomed for *arbitrary reason 1* and *competitor's* continued dominance!" Then... Later on, they have to hope that the articles get conveniently forgotten...

Warms the soul.

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

Haha. I get a chuckle when I read stuff like that. The experts say "Such and such is doomed for *arbitrary reason 1* and *competitor's* continued dominance!" Then... Later on, they have to hope that the articles get conveniently forgotten...

Warms the soul.

Indeed it does my man. Indeed it does.
I don't know how many articles I have read saying that the iPad would kill off the eReaders. That a 10" (actually 9.7") size was necessary. That anything else just didn't give the "experience." The "magic."

I don't know if all these professional writers got to keep their complimentary iPads when they wrote all these glowing reports or what.

On the other hand they also are currently writing about the Samsung Galaxy 5" player and the Galaxy Note and say that the screens are just too big to use. They then bring up the iPhone and iPod Touch with their 3.5" "ergonomic" screen that allow a normal person's thumb to cross the whole screen and say that is the only way such devices can be used effectively, so of course 5" is awful and will fail, and why the heck do they manufacture such junk.

There is always this push back on anything that seems to threaten an Apple machine.

And now their predictions and analysis is being proven wrong.

Mighty fine feeling. Mighty fine.

On another note, the prediction is that a new smaller iPad will be coming. It will be 7" they say, but the actual dimension is closer to 8" I don't know if that is true, but if it is, we will soon hear from these same sources and pundits that you get the "experience" and the "magic" from the smaller size as well. No doubt.

Originally Posted by david_e

Do the voices in your head tell you these mystical secrets of the universe or did you decipher it from your morning bowl of Alpha-bits?

I can't speak for SeaKing, but a healthy dose of "common sense" helps here. Even though the tech industry is obsessed with convergence for decades, the "average joe" just wants a gadget that does the job well. That's why ereaders are popular. That's why TVs refuse to die a graceful (and prompt) death. That's why portable music players still exist in a world where the ubiquitous cell phone could happily complete the task. And need I mention the handy calculator? Those simpleminded critters quite often sit next to computers that are powerful enough to do the maths for sophisticated 3-D animation, complex data analysis, and mind boggling modelling for science and engineering.

I've been interested in computers for long enough to remember the days when convergence was virtually promoted as, "the best way to create a $200 sound system is to buy a $2000 computer". Because of that extended history with technology, I'm fairly confident in predicting that the eink ereader will outlast the general purpose tablet. It will do so simply because it provides people with what they want in a package that they can understand. That isn't to say that tablets are going to disappear anytime soon or that eink ereaders are going to stay the same. But general purpose computers have changed a heck of a lot more than the dedicated devices that they were supposed to replace. Since tablets are almost general purpose computers, they are bound to transform beyond recognition before eink readers vanish from the marketplace.