Do Ebook Readers Have Any Chance Against Tablet Pcs?
The worlda�?s best selling eBook readers, the Kindle and Nook, have dropped their prices to below USD 200; the Nook for USD 149 and Kindle for USD 189. Seriously, who would spend big bucks on a device like a tablet if you can get a blend of an eBook reader and an Internet-enabled device for under USD 200? But eBook are not exclusive to eBook readers; eBook readers are under threat from the availability of eBook content on a wide range of devices such as smartphones, media players, netbooks, tablet PCs and other portable devices.
An eBook reader is designed to offer a good reading experience Rigid flex, excellent battery life, a wide range of content and portability. Now what does a tablet or an iPad lookalike offer? They also offer portability, long battery life due to less power hungry ARM processors, plus a whole bunch of content through apps. Tablets also offer Internet surfing, audio and video playback, entertainment apps, games, word processing, etc.
A tablet is an eBook reader combined with a media player and pocket PC. They are cannibalizing the market share of netbooks, eBook readers and media players.
Goldman Sachs has predicted that sales of eBooks in the US will continue to rise by 47% each year reaching USD 3.2 billion by 2015. Goldman has also predicted a drop of 1% each year in the sales of physical books with eBooks seizing 12.8% of all book sales by 2015. But while eBooks continue to grow big, eReaders might not follow the growth curve. According to research by Informa Telecoms & Media, eBook reader sales are expected to rise from 5 million in 2009 to 12.2 million in 2010, and reach a peak in 2013 with 14 million, before dropping by 7% in 2014.
The makers of eReaders have started taking this threat from tablet PCs seriously, by reducing prices. There are hundreds of iPad clones fighting in this price war. Vendors have to improve their products be adding a lot of extra features to increase the appeal of their readers. One way is to add a lot of tablet-like features, like web browsing Rigid flex PCB, apps, media player and games.
Samsung did just that with its 7-inch eBook reader, the 7005 model, which is featured on Aprogreen. Although it is an eBook reader and supports all major eBooks formats like .jbk, .epub, .djvu, .html, .fb2, .mobi, .prc, .chm, .cbr/.cbz, .pdf, .swf, .txt, and .rtf, it supports all video and audio formats as well for media playback.
Moreover, it can work as a tablet PC or MID with its 400MHz Samsung ARM 9 processor, WinCE 5.0 OS, Wi-Fi support and an integrated web browser. Weighing just 250g, the 7-inch device, in a classy silver, features SD and microSD slots.
eBook readers like the Samsung 7005 are competing well with tablets by offering a lower price and extra portability, but with more features than just eBook support.

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