Archive for December 31st, 2009
Large Format eReader Shipments to Increase by 300% in 2010; eReaders Becoming Popular in China no comments
Digitimes is reporting that shipments of 9.7-inch ereaders are expected to increase by 300 – 320% in 2010. Prime View International, which recently purchased e-Ink, may not have enough manufacturing capacity to keep up with the increased demand.
The article goes on to say that shipments of ereaders are expected to reach 3.5-4 million units globally in 2009.
The Kindle DX is the primary larger format ereader at the moment with its 9.7-inch screen, but the DX will be joined shortly by the Plastic Logic Que and no doubt others will be making their debuts soon.
Ereaders are apparently becoming popular in China as well, with a number of new models being introduced recently. According to C114.net about 5 million Chinese read ebooks on mobile devices. So far these have been smaller format devices, but Hanwang plans to launch a 9” ereader soon.
Hanwang is the current market leader, but new Chinese ereaders are being announced frequently. The Founder Group, a Chinese IT company, introduced an ereader that very closely copies the Kindle’s physical design. BenQ has also released a new ereader that should ship to the Chinese market in January 2010.
We probably won’t be seeing many of the ereaders meant for the Chinese market in the West anytime soon.
The C114.net article referenced above also notes that it is estimated that 95 per cent of the Chinese who read electronically download pirated ebooks. Perhaps this is one reason that China is not on the Kindle Global list.
