E-book readers have been around for a long time now. The first one, which is generally agreed to have been the Franklin eBookman, was released in 1999, more than ten years ago. Other readers were released, notably the original Amazon Kindle in 2007 which actually lagged behind the Sony PRS reader which had launched in 2006.

However, it wasn’t until 2009 that e-book readers really took off in a big way. With absolutely no disrespect to Sony, much of the credit for this has to go to Amazon. The launch of the Kindle 2.0 in February 2009 backed up by the release of the larger DX reader in June caused quite a stir and established e-book readers as the hot gadget of the year. The Kindle quickly became Amazon’s number one selling product and was the most gifted Amazon item ever over the 2009 festive period. Both Sony and Barnes and Noble had released new readers in time for the Christmas season, but uncertainty about delivery in time for Xmas, coupled with the Kindle’s already established dominance meant that Amazon swept the boards.