14 DAY TRIAL // Like netbooks, e-readers saw a dramatic popularity surge over the past year, with such devices causing both great joy and/or great headaches to their manufacturers. Barnes and Noble is still unable to meet demand, while Amazon is celebrating the new monthly sales record set by its Kindle e-reader.
After such events, it is hardly surprising to hear of other companies interested in joining the bandwagon. This time around, rumors suggest that Lenovo is not only bent on grabbing a portion of the market, but that it has even completed the testing stage of its reportedly upcoming product.
There are many Chinese manufacturers intent on making e-readers, and some have already made a name for themselves, such as Hanwang, which was the first Chinese maker of such items. Lenovo likely intends to either match or exceed its performance (Hanwang sold almost 500,000 e-readers in 2009). The appearance of a new e-book reading device will add more variety to this market that has mostly been controlled by the aforementioned Amazon Kindle.
Rumors seem to suggest that Lenovo has already finished the prototype and has even submitted it to internal tests. This would imply that the official launch may not be too far off. The Chinese company has not exactly made any effort to discourage the rumors in question, which might suggest that end-users will finally see some variety in this segment, occurrence which may also lead to price cuts and overall product improvements in the future.
Lenovo isn't the only name intent on becoming a strong presence in the e-reader industry. LG has also recently signed deals for e-paper display technology. It is currently unclear whether it will make its own e-book reading devices but mass production of e-paper displays is definitely imminent.
Unfortunately, there is really no information on the design or capabilities of Lenovo's allegedly impending gadget, so it is impossible to assert just how strong a competition it will be to the Kindle and the Nook e-readers. Consumers will just have to wait and see for themselves.