“With the entry of new players, such as Barnes and Noble, into the e-reader market and an increase in models from Amazon and Sony, consumers began to have choices in single-purpose e-reading devices in 2009. Among the product differentiation points are support for E-ink’s electronic paper technology, support for further book formats, and the ability of some devices to allow consumers to purchase content wirelessly and to synchronize content across devices,” Allen Weiner, research vice president at Gartner, said.

Gartner Technology Business Research Insight reached the conclusion that even all the heavy promotion of e-book readers during 2009 wouldn't be able to match what 2010 would bring. According to Gartner, e-books and their e-readers haven't become as popular as they can be because of multiple factors.

One factor is the limited features of e-readers. Namely, most such gadgets are exclusively built for allowing the reading of books in the electronic format. Although this is their intended purpose and they have perfectly carried out this task, Mr. Weiner believes that e-reader applications are and should be a focus of the manufacturers.

“Book applications for smartphones have the potential to become a bridge to other devices such as tablet readers and netbooks. Apple, for example, could migrate the more than 500 book applications in the iTunes store to a tablet device and Google, which recently announced a browser-based e-reader, could offer applications for Android-based devices of various form factors,” Mr. Weiner shared.

What this implies is that fixed devices, namely those built solely for reading, such as Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s family of devices, should not be considered even close to being the final stage of evolution of these gadgets. Most importantly, developers should include similar book-reading applications on smartphones and other mobile devices, in order to increase e-book popularity and set a foundation for the opening of new retail channels (ranging from big box retailers and wireless-carrier outlets to lifestyle stores such as Brookstone).

This would, according to Gartner, increase the predisposition of authors towards making their books available in e-book format, maybe even matching the success of Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” e-book. Finally, Gartner suggests that e-reader manufacturers find a way to lower the price, from the current $199 to a reasonable $99. Otherwise, the devices won't have a very good chance of attracting consumers.

“It’s the perfect time for a trial and to establish relationships with others in the value-chain – that is service providers and digital warehouses – that can be positioned to assist in a rapid deployment if the market takes off earlier than anticipated,” the analyst added.

Gartner sees great possibilities in the area of e-reader and e-books and expects the popularity to increase substantially in the future, culminating in an e-reader mania in the holiday season of 2010.