14 DAY TRIAL // Right from the start, e-readers did better, marketing-wise, than anyone had expected, showing that yes, there are still many people who would spend time reading a good book.
Amazon was among the first to cash in on the new product type. Its Kindle became the best-selling product too, and stayed that way for months.
The market eventually matured, though, and by that we mean that most people who had any interest in reading electronic books already had an e-reader, or a substitute device, after about a year and a half.
So, in order for the e-reader market to live on, makers of such devices need to come up with better and cheaper ones.
Amazon has the affordability issue covered, but it still needs to offer its prospective customers a large enough incentive to keep buying. Otherwise they won't see any reason to replace the Kindle or the B&N Nook, or whatever other reader, they already have.
Displaying everything in color is what the retailer will be betting on this year.
As soon as E Ink releases a color-paper panel, the Kindle will reincarnate as a non-monochrome gadget.
At least, this is what Digitimes' recent report states, based on what so-called “industry sources” are said to have concluded.
In addition, Amazon will implement capacitive multi-touch support rather than infrared panels. TPK is implied to have landed orders for touch modules.
Related parts and components will begin shipping in May and availability of the Kindle Color, as we've taken to calling it, is slated for the second half of the year (2012).
It isn't clear what percentage of the projected yearly shipments the newcomer will account for. Amazon is expected to send out six million e-book readers in total this year, give or take. As always, since content availability was never an issue, the price will have the final say in the matter.