The eBook market finally gets a $99 reader

Regular readers of this column may recall that just about a year ago on Sept 8, 2009, I wrote a post called: Forrester confirms eBook reader price must drop substantially. At the time, I wrote how a Forrester report confirmed my assertion that eBook Readers had to get cheap--very cheap--before people would buy them in large numbers.

That's why I read with great interest Michelle Manafy's EContent Blog post this week about an upcoming eBook reader that will sell for under $100. As Manafy pointed out, market pressures have forced Barnes & Noble and Amazon to drop the prices of the Nook and Kindle substantially, but that the lowest priced models still go for $150 for the Nook and $139 for the Kindle. The upcoming Copia is expected to sell for just $99.

Market forces

I've always maintained that for B&N and Amazon, it's more about selling books than it is about selling readers. The readers for these two organizations are simply a means to an end. Other readers have not gained much market share, even though they provide a way to read books in many different formats. (It's worth noting that the Nook can read ePub books.)

Meanwhile we have the iPad, which acts as an eBook reader and so much more. Even with a much a higher price tag starting at $499, iPad has done amazingly well, and many competing tablet products will be released later this year, adding yet another layer of competition to the eBook market.

Social forces

While all of this technology continues to develop at a rapid pace, there is also the growing explosion of social networking. We are suddenly a society that loves to share and we certainly like to share information about the books we read and like. According to the company website, Copia includes a social layer, which they are linking to existing, popular social tools making it easier to share.

What's more, you can share information about what you're reading, share your notes and bookmarks, and even form study groups--a feature that should appeal to students--and you can see live updates on your social networks from the device.

Price points

All of these factors are all well and good as far as they go, but what would compel consumers to buy this eReader on features alone? The fact is, although it sounds perfectly nice on paper, it's competing against other eBook readers along with the iPad and the growing tablet market. What makes this unit so compelling is its price, which starts at only $99. It's a price that's low enough that it might attract the casual buyer (yet it's so low it also begs the question if the components are of sufficient quality to power the device).

The fact is that eReader technology as a stand-alone device probably has a limited lifespan. Let's face it, it will be squeezed by increasingly sophisticated and cheaper tablets on one hand, and the natural commoditization of the product on the other.

For now though, the Copia (and probably other similar devices) give the market what it should have had long ago, a low-cost eBook reader with some nice features. It probably won't be enough to save the eBook reader market, but it's a start down the right path. - Ron