After I began The eBook Reader.com 15 years in the past, the devoted ereader market was nonetheless in its early levels, and there have been a number of totally different manufacturers coming into the market frequently.
Sony was a giant participant again then, and Kindles had been simply beginning to take off. Kobo ereaders didn’t exist but; the corporate was nonetheless known as Shortcovers as a substitute of Kobo. Then they modified their identify and the primary Kobo ereader was launched in 2010, and it was only a rebrand of an current system that had been out there for a number of years.
Again then there have been quite a few smaller manufacturers, like BeBook, Cool-er, Foxit, iRiver, JetBook, Hanlin, and new fashions had been getting launched frequently. Then much more smaller manufacturers began coming alongside, releasing units with half-finished software program and iffy {hardware} that by no means actually had a lot an opportunity of succeeding, however not less than firms had been keen to strive again then.
Only some ereader firms have caught round by means of the years: Kindle, Kobo, PocketBook, and Onyx.
Now the market is just about set, and also you not often ever see any new smaller manufacturers of ereaders popping out, besides possibly some obscure items of junk from China.
It’s not possible any main adjustments are going to occur to the devoted ereader market at this level. There aren’t any main firms keen to tackle Amazon and the Kindle. Smaller firms don’t even strive anymore.
Issues had been much more fascinating 15 years in the past. Now we’re fortunate to get a brand new Kindle each few years, and it’s normally only a remake of a earlier mannequin with a number of minor adjustments.
Kobos and PocketBooks are good alternate options to Kindles, however neither has a retail presence within the US, they do little or no promoting, and most of the people nonetheless don’t know both exists.
Onyx has been gaining floor with their versatile Android-powered ereaders for a while now, they usually aren’t afraid to strive new issues and launch totally different sorts of latest merchandise, however total the book reader market has actually stagnated over the previous a number of years, and it’s laborious to see that altering any time quickly. At this level the percentages of a brand new model coming alongside and shaking issues up is slim to nil.
