It was only in 2009 that e-book readers really took off in a big way. Without ignoring the contribution of Sony in any way, much of the credit for this must surely go to Amazon. The Kindle 2.0 launch in February 2009 quickly followed by the launch of the Kindle DX with its large display in June caused quite a stir and established e-book readers as the hot gadget of the year. The Kindle rapidly established itself as Amazon’s top selling product and over the course of the 2009 festive season became the most gifted Amazon product ever. Both Barnes and Noble and Sony had released new readers of their own in advance of 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. Most industry analysts are predicting 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.

It is effectively a completely new market segment which didn’t exist, at least not in any significant way, until very recently. Apart from the companies who manufacture e-book readers, there are opportunities for publishers, academic establishments, third party manufacturers and of course, the reading public.

The sudden development of this market segment has proved to excellent news for companies such as M-Edge who manufacture a wide range of Kindle accessories including reading lights, covers, chargers and so on. There are many other accessory providers who are also profiting. Currently, there is a strong focus on products aimed at the Kindle reader, but as the market grows and other readers gain in popularity these will also offer profitable opportunities to the third party suppliers.

The e-book reader market is still in its infancy. It is growing and developing at an astonishing rate. Amazon was hugely influential in the development of the market up to now and enjoys a 60% share of the American market as a result. In 2010, their dominant position is going to be challenged, so too will Sony’s current second place (with a very healthy 35% market share). However, this new market offers plenty of opportunity for companies with the vision and innovative skills to establish themselves at this early stage.

At the moment,Sony are Amazon’s main competitor – with a35% share of the American e-book reader market. However, there are plenty of manufacturers who have watched the rapid development of the e-book reader market and now want a piece of the action. This year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) had a separate section for e-book readers for the first time ever. Over two dozen companies – some of them household names, others less well known – had e-book readers on display. This is a clear indication of the business community’s faith in the market.

What many of these aspiring manufacturers seem to have failed to notice is the fact that the reader’s technical features, whilst undoubtedly important, are part of the big picture. The success which Amazon has enjoyed with the Kindle reader to date has been the product of various factors over and above its technical specification. Amazon enjoys an almost unique position which affords it significant competitive advantages which are important when it comes to marketing e-books and e-book readers.

, the largest book seller in the world – bar none. In the eyes of the buying public, it therefore enjoys a very strong association with books. It also has a a long history with consumer electronic devices – as a merchant perhaps – but there is a strong perceived relationship nonetheless. In any event, the Kindle has now established Amazon’s credentials as a manufacturer (albeit the actual manufacture is subcontracted) in a big way.

So, in reality, any who think they can mount a serious challenge to Amazon just by releasing a reader which has a few more bells and whistles, or is a little bit, are probably going to get an unpleasant surprise when the sales returns start rolling in. It probably needs another very well known and trusted corporation to make any serious impact on the scene now. Companies such as Microsoft or Apple could be possible change agents – and they both have their own readers, or devices which could be used to read e-books at least, in development. Sony now have a well established e-book reader pedigree, so they must consider themselves to be a contender.Barnes and Noble could also be a contender.

One thing’s for sure, no small electronics company is about to break Amazon’s stranglehold on the market. Tie ups, such as Barnes and Noble’s agreement to provide e-books for the Que reader, might throw up some surprises. All the same, unless there is a truly surprising development in the offing, it seems as if the Kindle reader really is set to become the literary world’s equivalent of the iPod.

In June of 2009, Amazon followed up with the Kindle DX, which was a large format version of the Kindle 2. It was specifically targeted at readers of magazines, newspapers and academic textbooks – and it caused quite a commotion.

The potential for academic use – from interactive textbooks to constantly updated texts, and not forgetting the possibility for academic bodies to save a lot of money – attracted a lot of attention. As well as entering into agreements with a number of colleges and universities, Amazon got a lot of free publicity from political bodies such as the New Democratic Leadership Council and also Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his capacity as Governor of California.

Thanks to Amazon’s foresight and innovation – aided by all the free publicity – the Amazon Kindle reader has now become Amazon’s number one selling product. At the moment, the Kindle has an amazing 60% share of the U.S. e-book reader market and has recently unveiled an international edition. The Kindle has now grown to be virtually synonymous with e-book readers.

It’s probably worth pointing out that Amazon were, in fact, a late entrant to the e-book reader market. The first e-book reader, the Franklin eBookman, debuted in 1999 – a decade ago. The Sony PRS reader was launched in 2007, before the launch of the first.

Amazon may been late to market – but by combining smart, technical innovation and an awareness of customer needs, Amazon has reached its current dominant position. The vast selection of titles available for the Kindle on Amazon’s website and the wireless connectivity (with no monthly fee) were every bit as key to the Kindle’s success as were the technical features of the reader.

However, now that Amazon has – almost single handedly – established the market, it seems that all the other consumer electronics manufacturers want their share. Sony, Microsoft, Apple, Barnes and Noble, iRex, Plastic Logic, Asus – the list goes on – all have their own devices ready for launch or in the final stages of development.

Wireless connectivity, presently one of Amazon’s powerful selling points, will become standard and Barnes and Noble will offer users of their new Nook reader more than 1,000,000 titles to choose from.Sony’s new Daily Edition reader will permit users to borrow books on loan from participating lending libraries. Meanwhile, there will probably be a standard e-book format agreed in 2010, which will allow users to lend e-books to friends and family or port them across to other readers if they want.

At the moment, a lot of industry insiders are checking out the line up of new readers and trying to predict which one is the Kindle Killer. However, Amazon has been very astute thus far and they won’t surrender their top position without a fight. It took them under eighteen months after the launch of the original Kindle to launch the hugely enhanced Kindle 2. The DX followed just a few months later. Amazon almost certainly has big plans for the further development of their Kindle family. Could it be that the Kindle killer will actually be the Kindle 4 and that we could see this sometime in the next twelve months?

The Kindle 2 launched in February of 2009. It was generally viewed as a big step in the right direction. Amazon had clearly listened closely to customer feedback concerning the original Kindle, released in 2007. Wireless connectivity and the enormous collection of Kindle books remained and faster page changes, prolonged battery life and increased storage capacity were among the improvements which were introduced.

Best selling author, Stephen King wrote a special novella to mark the launch and the Kindle 2 rapidly became the “must have” gadget amid a blaze of publicity.

In June of 2009, just a few months later, Amazon released the Kindle DX. This had a large display and was intended to cater for readers of newspapers, magazines and academic textbooks. Somewhat surprisingly perhaps, it was the staid world of academic publishing that helped to gain the DX a lot of publicity.

The academic community was quick to realise the potential benefits the Kindle offered. Not only would it be very much easier to update textbooks but interactive education – pop quizzes and tests for instance – would be possible. Academic bodies would not only save money as a result of using digital books, but they would be more environmentally friendly also – a key factor for such institutions who have both budgets and environmental targets to meet nowadays.

As well as establishing partnerships with a number of colleges and universities, Amazon benefited from a lot of publicity generated by political bodies such as the New Democratic Leadership Council and Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger – both of whom held forth on the educational benefits of e-book readers in general and the Amazon Kindle in particular.

However, as bright as things appeared for Amazon, there were indications that trouble was looming. Other manufacturers, having seen Amazon develop the e-book reader market, were now becoming aware of the enormous potential of this nascent sector. An impressive list of competitors, including the likes of Microsoft, Apple, Sony and Barnes and Noble, wanted their share – and they all had their own readers in development.

It’s a compliment to Amazon – albeit a backhanded one that virtually every ebook reader in development which shows the slightest promise is immediately dubbed the “Kindle Killer”. The problem is that, at this time, in spite of all the development work by the competition, Amazon is still the only game in town. Sony’s Daily Edition reader and the Nook from Barnes and Noble have both had their release dates put back. In fact, it looks increasingly likely that the most probable source of the long awaited Kindle Killer would be Amazon itself. The Kindle 4 looks like the most likely contender. Might we expect to see it in the next twelve months?