E-readers could push growth in e-textbook market, analysts say

With more e-readers hitting the U.S. market, analysts predict a big uptick in device sales in late 2010, with a strong surge in the popularity of electronic textbooks used in high schools and colleges in time for school in the fall of 2011.

Weiner predicted that a number of major vendors, including Google Inc. and Apple Inc., could enter the market with devices and marketing plans that involve textbook publishers and, possibly, college bookstores.

While the cost of components inside e-readers is dropping, thus lowering the overall cost of an e-reader, Jakhanwal predicted that it could be three years before e-readers hit the magic $99 price point targeted by many consumer electronics manufacturers to attract a large audience. Read more at www.computerworld.com