14 DAY TRIAL // Not long ago, IDC issued a press release meant to inaugurate the debut of its Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker, and part of said release had, of course, information on the current situation on the e-reader market.
That the tablet market had boomed last year is something that was confirmed yet again, this time by IDC, not long ago.
The same press release that presented the situation on the media tablet market also dealt with the segment dedicated to e-readers.
Apparently, about 10.8 million units were shipped throughout 2010, of which 72.4 percent were sold in the US.
Of them, 2.7 million were sold during the third quarter alone, a figure that is 40% higher sequentially.
Out of those 2.7 million, 1.1 belonged to Amazon, meaning that it is the undisputed market leader, its worldwide share being of 41.5%.
Pandigital came in second, with a 16.1% share (440,000 sales), just slightly over Barnes and Noble, the latter having managed a sales figure of 420,000 and a share of 15.4%.
Fourth place went to Sony, whose number of sales just barely exceeded 200,000, meaning a share of 8.4%, while Hanvon managed 8.2%.
For the following years, IDC predicts only growth. Global shipments in the ongoing year, for instance, 2011, are expected to total around 14.7 million, while 16.6 million is the predicted number for 2012.
Color display-equipped units will most likely be responsible for the rising consumer interest, as will price competition among e-paper vendors.
Needless to say, the rest will fall to the content availability itself, meaning digital books and periodicals across all genres and languages.
“[Demand will be] driven by price competition among e-paper-based device vendors, the introduction of color display ereaders, and the expansion of digital book and periodical content offerings across genres and languages,” says the press release.