Will Next Year See The Release Of The Amazon Kindle 4?

This has been a big year for e-book readers – mainly due to the efforts of Amazon. Amazon debuted the Kindle 2 in February 2009, which was an improved and enhanced version of the original Kindle which was launched in November 2007.

In June of 2009, Amazon followed up with the Kindle DX, which was a large display version of the Kindle 2. It was specifically targeted at readers of magazines, newspapers and academic textbooks – and it caused quite a stir.

The potential for academic use – from interactive textbooks to continually updated texts, and not overlooking the opportunity for academic bodies to save a lot of money – attracted a lot of attention. As well as signing agreements with a number of colleges and universities, Amazon got a lot of free publicity from political entities such as the New Democratic Leadership Council and also Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his capacity as Governor of California.

Thanks to Amazon’s foresight and determination – assisted by all the free publicity – the Amazon Kindle reader has now become Amazon’s number one selling product.Currently, the Kindle has an incredible 60% share of the U.S. e-book reader market and has recently unveiled an international version. The Kindle has now grown to be virtually a byword for e-book readers.

It’s probably worth noting that Amazon were, in fact, a late entrant to the e-book reader market. The first e-book reader, the Franklin eBookman, hit the market in 1999 – a decade ago. The Sony PRS reader was launched in 2007, prior to the launch of the Kindle 1.

Amazon might not have been first to market – but by combining clever, technical innovation and an awareness of customer needs, Amazon has achieved its present dominant position. The large selection of titles available for the Kindle on Amazon’s website and the wireless connectivity (with no monthly fee) were every bit as crucial to the Kindle’s success as were the technical features of the device.

However, now that Amazon has – almost single handedly – developed the market, it seems that every man and his dog want their share. Sony, Microsoft, Apple, Barnes and Noble, iRex, Plastic Logic, Asus – the list goes on – all have their own readers ready for launch or in the final stages of development.

Wireless connectivity, currently one of Amazon’s unique selling points, will become normal and Barnes and Noble will offer users of their new Nook reader over 1,000,000 titles to pick from.Sony’s new Daily Edition reader will allow users to borrow books on loan from participating lending libraries. Meanwhile, there will most likely be a standard e-book format agreed in 2010, which will let users lend e-books to friends and family or transfer them over to other readers if they want.

At the moment, a lot of industry analysts are eyeing the line up of new readers and trying to predict which one is the Kindle Killer. However, Amazon has been pretty smart thus far and they won’t surrender their top position without a fight. It took them less than eighteen months following the launch of the original Kindle to launch the hugely improved Kindle 2. The DX followed just a few months later. Amazon almost certainly has some ideas for the future development of their e-book readers. Is it possible that the Kindle killer will turn out to be the Kindle 4 and that we could see this sometime in the next twelve months?