Electronic book readers have been available for quite some time now. The original, which is generally agreed to have been the eBookman by Franklin, was released in 1999, more than ten years ago. Other readers were released, notably the original Amazon Kindle in November 2007 which actually lagged behind the the PRS reader by Sony which had launched in 2006.

It was only in 2009 that e-book readers really cauht the public imagination. Without ignoring the contribution of Sony in any way, much of the credit for this has to go to Amazon. The launch of the Kindle 2.0 in February 2009 quickly followed by the release of the Kindle DX with its large display in June caused generated a lot of publicity and established e-book readers as the hot gadget of the year. The Kindle rapidly established itself as Amazon’s top selling product and was the most gifted Amazon item ever over the 2009 festive period. Both Sony and Barnes and Noble had launched their own new readers in time for the Christmas season, but uncertainty about delivery in time for Xmas, coupled with the already established dominance of the Kindle reader meant that Amazon swept the boards.

There is currently a good selection of readers to choose from. The list of companies who have their own readers either in development or already available is both long and impressive. For the first time ever, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas in January 2010, had a separate section dedicated to e-book readers. All the signs are there that 2010 is going to be an even more successful year for e-book readers and we can probably anticipate continuing growth in the rate of sales.

In effect, the e-book reader sector is a brand new market sector which didn’t exist, at least not in any meaningful way, until very recently. Over and above the companies who manufacture e-book readers, there are implications for publishers, academic establishments, third party manufacturers and of course, the reading public.

The sudden emergence of this market segment has been excellent news for suppliers like M-Edge who manufacture a wide range of Kindle accessories including reading lights, covers, chargers and so on. There are plenty of other accessory providers who are also profiting. Right now, there is a strong focus on products aimed at the Kindle reader, but as the market grows and other devices increase in popularity these will also afford profitable opportunities to the independents.

The market for e-book readers is still in its infancy. It is growing and developing at an incredible rate. Amazon has been instrumental in the development of the market up to now and enjoys a 60% share of the American market as a result. Their dominance will be strongly challenged in 2010, as will Sony’s current second place (with a highly respectable 35% market share). There is plenty of opportunity in this new market for companies with the vision and innovative skills to establish themselves at this early stage.