Market reports

According to a new study by Alloy Media, 50% of US college students plan to buy an e-reader. Currently only 2% of the students have an e-reader.

Via the Independent

Update: these are actually shipments from manufacturers to vendors, not from vendors to consumers. Sorry about the confusion!

Digitimes research says that 740,000 e-readers were sold in April-May worldwide. Interestingly, The Nook sold 270,000 and the Kindle sold only 118,000.

Digitimes says that Amazon is reducing their Kindle inventory as they prepare to launch the new version in July-August. Production cost and street price of the new kindle will be lower (not sure if even lower than the price announced yesterday...). Sony is also expected to release a new reader in July, and B&N will release one or two modules by the end of the year (maybe this is the Wi-Fi only version, we're not sure about that too).

mediaIDEAS has published a new research into the growth and value of the US market for e-readers paid content. According to the report, at the end of 2014, the US user base of e-readers will have grown aggressively to nearly 45 million, and the market for all categories of content sold for these devices will have increased to approximately $10.86 billion. And, by 2020, this e-reader content market will have risen to more than $33 billion.

In 2010, they say that the content market will be around $460 million - mostly e-books. Later on, the availability of large-format and high-quality color e-paper readers will promote the sale of digital magazines and newspapers.

Qisda corporation, the OEM that makes BenQ's e-readers say that they have sold 10,000 e-readers in 2Q, and they expect sales to rise to 400,000 annually. BenQ's e-reader is the K60 nReader, with a 6" E Ink display.

Via TaiwanNews

DisplaySearch say that shipments of e-paper increased to 5 million units in 2009, up 417% on year from 950,000 units in 2008, mainly due to the popularity of e-book readers.

The Amazon Kindle has 66% of the total e-paper market according to DisplaySearch, which means that they sold 3.3 million units.

Via E-Ink-Info

According to a new study by Mediamark Research & Intelligence e-reader owners are big fans of magazines. In fact, 91% of e-reader owners read print or digital magazines (compared to 84% of all US adults). They also read more magazines than the general population.

Via MediaPost

Digitimes research say that global e-reader shipments will reach 28 million in 2013, up from 700,000 units in 2008. The total market value will be over $3 billion (in 2008 it was $244 million). US will continue to be the largest market, followed by China.

Via digitimes