After an extended period of domination by Amazon, it seems that the e-book marketplace is about to see genuine competition at last. We may even see even the replacement of the Amazon Kindle reader as the market leader.
In terms of the e-book reader devices themselves, a number of manufacturers are preparing to launch new hardware – some before the end of the year, some early in 2010. Sony have recently announced the launch of three new readers. Probably the most significant of these is the Sony Daily Edition reader, which will launch in December 2009, has touch screen functionality, wireless 3g connectivity and will allow users to download e-books “on loan” from their local lending library.
Other manufacturers, including Plastic Logic and Apple, will have new readers on offer in the near future.
However, as important as the technical specification of the various reader devices is likely to be, it may not be the deciding factor. Currently, the ability to select an e-book from Amazon’s vast library of titles (in excess of 300,000 and growing daily) is a big selling point for them. There are more than 300,000 e-books for the Kindle available on Amazon’s website. The drawback is that you need to purchase all your e-books from Amazon. Further, if you subsequently decide to change your reader to a different type, then you are currently unable to take your e-books with you. This might be available in future perhaps, but just at the moment it’s very much a case of Kindle reader, Kindle books. Put it another way – it’s a closed system.
Other manufacturers seem to be moving towards a common e-book format – called ePub, which is different to that used by Amazon. This would give users the ability to freely transfer e-books between different readers. It would also let them buy and download books from a wide selection of different retailers. It would give them more freedom to choose.
If this move goes ahead, and it seems likely that it will, then it’s not out of the question that what is currently a feather in Amazon’s cap, their huge collection of Kindle books, may become a liability. Of course, it would not be possible for Amazon to make their Kindle titles compatible with whatever format is eventually selected by the industry, either by means of a translation facility or simply by adopting whatever standard is defined.
Whether or not Amazon are able to retain their current dominant position, it looks very much as if the e-book market is going to have some strong competition in future and that industry standards will be put in place sooner rather than later. All of this is good news for consumers.