There’s not much doubt that the number one ebook reader on the market at the moment is the Amazon Kindle. It has been Amazon’s number one selling item for over two years now. Every year it sells incredibly well over the Christmas period, and it’s also becoming popular at other gifting holidays as a result of recent price reductions.
Trailing in a fairly distant second place is the Nook reader from Barnes and Noble. However, it has recently been upgraded, so it may run the Kindle closer in future. Probably the biggest upgrade to the Nook is the inclusion of a touch screen e-ink display which has touch screen controls. Many users will find that to be both easier and more intuitive to use. Whilst it may not be essential, we have become used to personal electronic gadgets that feature touch screen controls these days.
From a more functional perspective, use of touch screen controls means that a QWERTY keypad is not required. What this means is that the Nook can be made smaller, something which will be appreciated by many customers.
It does start to look as if the ebook reader market is turning into a head to head struggle between Amazon’s Kindle and the Nook. It may be coincidence, but it does look as if customers like to buy their ebook readers from the same place where they normally shop for their books.
