It seems like both the tablet and e-Book reader markets set to boom in the year 2010. According to an industry insider in China, 10 million units of Apple’s first tablet computer known as iSlate will be sold this year. Other companies joining the tablet war include Google + HTC and Microsoft.
Meanwhile, shipments e-book readers are expected to grow 300% to 10.5-12 million on a year-to-year basis in 2010, according to analysts from Digitimes Research. The report claimed that there is a surging demand in e-book readers that come with larger displays such as the 9.7-inch Amazon Kindle DX. All Amazon Kindle models are manufactured by Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics company which also produces the iPod and iPhone for Apple, the Wii for Nintendo, and the Xbox 360 for Microsoft.
BenQ will launch a 6-inch e-book reader in January 2010 and a 9-inch model in the second half of 2010. Barnes & Nobel has launched a 6-inch e-book reader, the nook, and plans to work with Plastic Logic to launch a larger-size nook (8.5-inch x 11-inch) using plastic substrates in January 2010.
Over the past few years, the e-book reader market was getting crowded, with publishers, booksellers, consumer electronics companies eyeing the lucrative market. There are about 20 e-book models in 2009, up from one model in 2003. The e-book reader market has generated over $431 million in revenues last year but it will soar to an astounding $9.6 billion by 2018, according to a report from Displaysearch. And color e-readers will begin to proliferate in 2011.