Can Anybody See A Kindle Killer?

2009 has been an important year for e-book readers - substantially as a result of the efforts of Amazon. Amazon released the Kindle 2 in February 2009, which was an updated and enhanced version of the original Kindle which launched in November 2007.

A few short months later, Amazon launched the large format Kindle DX reader. This was targeted at readers of newspapers, magazines and academic textbooks - and it caused a bit of a stir.

The academic establishment immediately saw the potential - from textbooks with interactive modes, to constantly updated text - and the potential to save money was certainly there as well. Amazon, in addition to entering into partnership agreements with a number of colleges and universities, got a high level of free publicity from the political scene. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his role as Governor of California, and the New Democratic Leadership Council - which numbers Hillary Clinton among its members - both waxed lyrical about the opportunities afforded by digital textbooks in general and the Kindle in particular.

As a result of Amazon's innovation and foresight - and greatly helped by free publicity - the Kindle has now become Amazon's number one selling product. At the moment, the Kindle has an amazing 60% share of the American e-book reader market, and an international version has recently been launched. The Kindle is now synonymous with e-book readers.

It's probably worth remembering that Amazon were, in fact, a somewhat tardy entrant to the e-book reader market. The Franklin eBookman is generally considered to be the original dedicated e-book reader, and this was launched ten years ago in'99. Sony's PRS reader was launched in 2007, in advance of the launch of the original Kindle.

Amazon may not have been first to launch - but by combining clever marketing with technical innovation and addressing customer needs, Amazon has secured its current number one position. The vast choice of books available for the Kindle on Amazon's website (360,000 titles at the last count and growing daily) and the wireless connectivity (with no monthly fee) were every bit as critical to the success of the Kindle as were the technical aspects of the device.

Now that Amazon has developed the market - almost single handedly it seems - it looks like there are plenty of other manufacturers who want their share. Sony, Asus, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Microsoft - the list goes on - all have readers ready for launch or in the final stages of development.

Wireless connectivity, currently one of Amazon's strong selling points, will become standard and Barnes and Noble will offer users of their new Nook reader over 1,000,000 titles to choose from. Sony's new Daily Edition reader will allow users to download e-books on loan from participating lending libraries. There will most likely be some standard e-book format adopted in 2010, and this will allow let users lend e-books to family and friends or port them over to other readers should they so wish.

Many business analysts are checking out the list of new readers and trying to identify which one is the "Kindle Killer". The competition is certainly impressive - but it would be foolish to imagine that Amazon will sit on their hands while their e-book reader crown is removed. Amazon almost certainly has further plans for the development of the Kindle. In fact, it might be that the Kindle 4 will be the Kindle Killer and that we could see this next launch in 2010.

Find out all about the Amazon Kindle ebook reader #1, and check out the full range of Kindle accessories available.