Research from Informa Telecoms and Media says that stand alone e-readers aren’t going to last the pace and will be superseded by multi purpose devices such as tablet computers, SmartPhones, laptops and netbooks.
Hard to believe isn’t it when e-readers such as Amazon’s Kindle and others from the likes of Sony and Barnes and Noble have been doing so well. In fact according to Amazon the Kindle was Amazon’s most gifted device in Amazon’s history.
These days we are buying more electronic books than ever before, however, our need for a standalone device isn’t a strong as it was, basically because we no longer need a separate purpose built device.
According to the Informa market research, sales of e-readers will peak out at around 14 million devices in 2013 and then fall by 7 percent in 2014 although interestingly, it also says there will always be a market for low cost devices, without wireless networking.
“In its current incarnation, the e-reader offers a good reading experience, high levels of portability and great battery life. However, it is under threat from the availability of electronic book (e-book) content on multifunctional devices such as mobile phones, tablet computers, netbooks and other portable consumer electronic devices” says Gavin Byrne, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms and Media.
“Apple’s iPad, available in the UK market this week, is perhaps the highest-profile competition for dedicated e-readers. Mobile broadband e-readers will also face competition from much cheaper non-connected models that are targeting a lower retail price in order to stimulate adoption,” says Byrne.
So are the e-reader’s days truly numbered?
“This is a real a wake-up call for e-reader vendors and will force them to improve both their products and their communications about the benefits of owning a dedicated e-reader. We believe this will cause the market to segment into two different groups – low price, low feature and high price, advanced feature models,” Byrne adds.
Can anything be done?
“There are certainly a number of things that vendors can do to counteract this growing threat. However, the current absence of an obvious subsidy model for mobile network operators, the launch of the iPad and market dynamics are likely to limit the market in the long-term.
“Overall Informa Telecoms & Media is sceptical about the sales growth for mobile broadband e-readers” concludes Byrne.
