The introduction of e-book readers to challenge Amazon’s Kindle has brought new price competition to the market. The launch of Sony’s $199 Reader and Interead’s $249 Cool-er prompted Amazon to drop the price of its introductory-level Kindle 2 to $299 from $359 within months of its debut.
Despite this change, prices still have a long way to go before e-book readers get beyond the early adopter demographic, according to a study released this week by Forrester Research.
Even among frequent readers with a disposable income and a household income above $75,000, current prices put e-book devices firmly in the expensive luxury category. Forrester’s survey of 4,700 online consumers in the U.S. found average consumers believe the real value of e-book readers is between $50 and $99. This is well below the cheapest reader, currently on the market.
Only 14 percent of consumers said that prices of $199 or higher fall even within the “It’s expensive but I might consider it” range, according to Forrester.
“The maximum addressable market for e-readers as they are currently priced is substantial — but to reach the largest market possible, the prices will need to come way down,” Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps wrote in a blog post about the report. “And even then, e-readers are never going to be as big a market as MP3 players, which 110 million U.S. consumers own.”
Despite this change, prices still have a long way to go before e-book readers get beyond the early adopter demographic, according to a study released this week by Forrester Research.
Even among frequent readers with a disposable income and a household income above $75,000, current prices put e-book devices firmly in the expensive luxury category. Forrester’s survey of 4,700 online consumers in the U.S. found average consumers believe the real value of e-book readers is between $50 and $99. This is well below the cheapest reader, currently on the market.
Only 14 percent of consumers said that prices of $199 or higher fall even within the “It’s expensive but I might consider it” range, according to Forrester.
“The maximum addressable market for e-readers as they are currently priced is substantial — but to reach the largest market possible, the prices will need to come way down,” Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps wrote in a blog post about the report. “And even then, e-readers are never going to be as big a market as MP3 players, which 110 million U.S. consumers own.”
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment