Originally written for eBookGuru - The Digital Magazine Devoted to eBooks

I recently came across an article on CNET about the shortcomings of the Kindle and how these short comings represent opportunities for competitors to exploit.

“Competitors will attack Amazon’s market position by launching new features, expanding content beyond books, dominating markets outside the U.S., reducing costs, and improving relationships with publishers.”

I’ve long argued that the Kindle was too expensive and the fact that it is currently restricted to the US market is a major limitation. It’s ironic that one of the Kindle’s strengths - it’s on demand link to Amazon.com - is also what is holding it back outside of the US.

It was also interesting to see the projections for the market, both in terms of the # of consumers, and how the eBook reader market will change in response to this growth.

We are already seeing a lot of competition in the eBook reader space, with form friendly products like Readius to traditional ‘booklike’ products from txtr, Plastic Logic, Onyx, and Samsung. With all this competition it won’t be long before we reach the sweet spot for eBook readers, that magic sub $200 price point. Once that happens we’ll really see sales of eBook readers take off.

With all these new devices, the future for eBooks looks bright, and authors and publishers who have already embraced eBooks stand to benefit the most.