Remember when some joker predicted the end of eReaders a while back--oh, that was me. In the words of the late, great Gilda Radner playing Emily Latella, "never mind." New research suggests that eReaders are not only doing well, they are dare I say, thriving.

What accounts for this change? There are a number of factors including improved technology, rapidly dropping prices and a growing market for eReader-tablet hybrid devices that cost far less than higher end tablets from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Samsung and Motorola.

Let's start with some research. Juniper Research is predicting that 25 million eReaders will be sold this year alone. By 2016, the research firm expects sales to exceed 67 million units. That doesn't sound like a dead technology, does it? Not really.

Another major factor driving eReader technology is rapidly dropping prices. As I wrote way back in 2009--okay, 2009 wasn't that long ago, but it's eons in technology time--Forrester Research found that in order for the eReader market to really take off, the price needed to drop substantially to under $100. Well that has happened in spades as there are now sub-$100 versions of the Nook, the Kindle and the Kobo Reader with Kobo and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) driving down the price by including ads, or what they call "special offers."

Meanwhile, the line between what we think of as an eReader and what we think of as a tablet is clearly blurring. Amazon and Barnes and Noble have come out with low-end Android tablets, which provide a cost-effective alternative to the iPad. While these devices aren't up to snuff in terms of hardware, they do offer a range of features beyond eBook reading and I expect that's going to be more than enough for many of the less discerning among the buying public.

In the future, we will start to see alternatives to the LCD and e-ink technology. While LCD offers more vibrant colors, it sucks battery life. E-ink is much more power-friendly, but there is a delay in page turns and it's black and white. Sounds like Hobson's choice, but it's what we've had up until now.

The MIT Technology Review reports this week on an alternative display from Qualcomm called Mirasol, which is supposed to offer the best of both worlds, a colorful responsive display that doesn't drain the battery like LCDs. The question is how much Mirasol displays will cost in relation to the other options and when it will finally come to market--and that is not clear, even though the promise of Mirasol has been around for some time.

For now at least, it looks like the technology we have is going to be in place for a while, but as the prices for these devices continue to drop, more people are going to be tempted to buy them. If you're looking at a holiday present, a device that's around (or well under) $100 is going to be very attractive.

And finally, in spite of the birth of the tablet/eReader hybrid, it seems that some people are looking for devices that are more geared to reading. As great a device as the iPad is, at least one technology journalist felt that compared to the stand-alone Kindle, it might not be the best eReader on the planet, even though you can certainly consume eBooks on it.

Whether Barnes and Noble or Amazon ends up losing that edge as they make the transition to tablet with eReading capabilities remains to be seen.

For now, one thing is clear, the eReader market is far more resilient than I ever believed, and the eReader device looks like its going to be around for some time in one form or another--in spite of what I might have written in the past. - Ron