The last few months has seen a plunge in the price of ebook readers. Right now, less than $ 100 will get you a very good ebook reader. The recently released Amazon Kindle 4 is on sale for just $79. Even the Nook Simple Touch and Kindle Touch are selling for just $99 these days.
The market has changed a lot since Amazon’s original Kindle was first released way back in November of 2007. At that time it had a ticket price of $399. The intervening four years have seen prices fall dramatically.
And it’s not just that prices have fallen. Today’s readers are considerably better than the original Kindle. E-ink technology displays are a lot sharper, page turns are quicker and the time between battery charges is longer than ever.
There’s no doubt that tumbling prices are a major influence in the growth of the ebook reader market, but there are other factors at work as well. The ability to carry your own personal library of ebooks with you wherever you go using a device that is smaller than a paperback book is definitely a factor.
It’s also a lot better to read on an e-ink technology display than on a back-lit LCD monitor. They produce less eye strain and are as near to reading text printed on paper as makes no difference. After an hour or so, you won’t even notice that you’re using an electronic reader as opposed to a “real” book.
Another good thing about e-ink technology displays is the fact that they use very little power. Power is only drawn when the page is being refreshed. That means that ebook readers can go for weeks between battery charges rather than a few hours like a laptop or a tablet computer.
These are just a few of the factors that have combined to ensure the rapid growth of the ebook reader market. It’s probably worth mentioning that Amazon currently sells more Kindle books than paperback and hard cover books combined. That should serve as an illustration of just how popular ebook readers and ebooks are right now. That’s a clear sign of the way that things are heading.
In the not too distant future, ebooks are going to become the preferred method of reading for most people. Printed books will be around for a long time yet, but ebooks are going to be many people’s first choice in the near future. It seems reasonable to suggest that ebooks and ebook readers are, in all probability, the most significant change in the world of books and reading since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press.
