Which e-Readers will survive?

Sourced through Teleread:

The ereader pricing shakeup spells doom for everyone but the big three
By Paul Biba on Sony

That’s the title of an excellent overview article about the state of the hardware ereader industry in BestTabletReview.

The eReader pricing shakeup spells doom for everyone but the big three

It’s worth reading.

So who will survive the shake-out?

These are already gone or going:

InteRead’s COOL-ER
iRex Technologies DR800SG
Plastic Logic QUE ProReader
and a few that never made it past proto-stage.

These seem to be OK in the short term:

Amazon Kindle
Sony Reader
Barnes & Noble Nook
Borders/Chapters Kobo
Apple iPad
Entourage eDGe

The article suggests that when it asks “who’s going to be left?” They answer “Most likely, just the big three: Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Sony. They’re the only ones who can survive and continue to plot the course for eReaders.”

Risky business being that sure. I thn we’ll see more innovation first and can’t leave out simple apps for smartphones, other tablets or netbooks . . .

It’s still an open game but it won’t be for long. I also think tha there is a world of difference between the consumer use of e-books and e-books for research, professions, academia, and schools.

I think that the price competition will continue and we’ll see $99 devices soon. I also think we’ll see book plans just like calling plans on your phones. If you subscribe to X number of books a year, your device is free on a 2-3 contract . . . Sound familiar? What else could the wifi and 3G partnerships be for?

Hey, we’re going back to those old Columbia Book Clubs by mail.

Anyway, it’ll be a fun soap opera to watch.

Stephen