It was recently announced that on Christmas Day 2009 - for the first time in history - more ebooks than books were sold in a single day. In addition to this the Amazon Kindle was the 'most gifted' item on the ecommerce giant’s site, with record sales for the product over the month of November.
However 'The Kindle' is not the only player in the ebook game, with Sony and Google vying for their positions in this expanding and lucrative market. Although Amazon have a strong hold on the market, it is only a matter of time before others (i.e. Google, Sony and Barnes and Noble-with their 'Nook') offer new features, different and more dynamic content, lower costs and develop better relationships with the publishers. According to a recent report by Forrester:
"The eReader market is hot: Barely a day goes by without an announcement of a new device release or acquisition. Amazon.com, leveraging its position as a dominant book retailer, has catalyzed the market for eBooks, but that's just the beginning of the eReader revolution"
Here are the stats :
From Teleread - Statistics: Who Owns Dedicated eBook Readers in the US (December 2009)
Key attributes of e-book owners:
- 2.1 Million US adults own electronic book readers
- 56 % Men
- 44% Women
- 116% More likely to be heavy Internet users
- 199% more likely to have accessed the Internet using a Wi-Fi
- 154% more likely to have accessed the Internet using a cell phone or other mobile device.
- 11% more likely than average to own their home
- 87% more likely to have a household income of $100,000 or higher annually
- 111% more likely to have obtained a Bachelor’s or post-graduate degree
From Readwriteweb Reader Market Gets Crowded (May 2009) (click to enlarge)
From Paperwatch - Sales Projections (May 2009)
From Tech Crunch - Kindle Sales Estimates (Jan 2009)
Also check out:
Very interesting post, Ash. I would personally love to get my hands on a Kindle, but there is something wonderful about having a real book to read. So I hope that ebooks don't replace the real thing altogether!
Posted by di on 2010/01/26