This has been a huge year for e-book readers – mainly due to the efforts of Amazon. Amazon unveiled the Kindle 2 in February 2009, which was an improved and enhanced edition of the original Kindle which was released in November 2007.

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

The possibilities for academic use – from interactive textbooks to continually updated texts, and not overlooking the opportunity for academic bodies to save a lot of money – attracted a lot of attention. As well as signing agreements with a number of colleges and universities, Amazon gained a lot of free publicity from political bodies such as the New Democratic Leadership Council and also Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his role as Governor of California.

Thanks to Amazon’s foresight and determination – assisted by all the free publicity – the Amazon Kindle reader has now become Amazon’s best selling product.Right now, the Kindle has an amazing 60% share of the U.S. e-book reader market and has recently launched an international edition. The Kindle has become 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 original e-book reader, the Franklin eBookman, debuted in 1999 – ten years ago. The Sony PRS reader was launched in 2007, before the launch of the original Kindle.

Amazon might not have been first to market – but by a combination of smart, technical innovation and an awareness of customer needs, Amazon has reached its present dominant position. The huge selection of ebooks 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 aspects of the reader.

However, now that Amazon has – almost single handedly – developed the market, it seems that all the other consumer electronics manufacturers want their share. Microsoft, Sony, Apple, Barnes and Noble, iRex, Plastic Logic, Asus – the list continues – all have their own devices ready for release 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 allow users to borrow books on loan from participating lending libraries. Meanwhile, there will probably be a standard e-book format adopted next year, which will allow users to lend e-books to family and friends or transfer them across to other readers if they wish.

Right now, a lot of industry watchers are checking out the line up of new readers and attempting to predict which one is the Kindle Killer. However, Amazon has been very astute so far and they won’t give up their top position without a fight. It took them less than eighteen months after the release 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 e-book readers. Could it be that the Kindle killer will turn out to be the Kindle 4 and that we could see this sometime in 2010?

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