SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Forrester Research on Tuesday raised its 2009 forecast for e-reader sales in the United States to 3 million units, underscoring the increasing popularity of the devices.
The industry tracker had previously estimated sales of 2 million units.
For 2010, U.S. sales are expected to double, bringing cumulative e-reader sales to 10 million by the year's end, Forrester said in a report scheduled to be released on Wednesday.
'This holiday season, eReaders will be one category that's a breakout success,' Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said in the report. 'Lower prices, more content, better distribution, and lots of media hype are contributing to faster-than-expected adoption of eReader devices in 2009.'
Forrester predicts 900,000 units will sell during the holiday season.
Amazon.com Inc and its Kindle reader are expected to dominate the category with a 60 percent market share for 2009, followed by Sony Corp's Reader line with a 35 percent share.
Although new digital readers continue to enter the market, Forrester predicts device makers like Interead and iRex will account for only 5 percent of sales.
(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; editing by Carol Bishopric) Keywords: EREADER/FORECAST (gabriel.madway@thomsonreuters.com; +1 415 677 2536) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The industry tracker had previously estimated sales of 2 million units.
For 2010, U.S. sales are expected to double, bringing cumulative e-reader sales to 10 million by the year's end, Forrester said in a report scheduled to be released on Wednesday.
'This holiday season, eReaders will be one category that's a breakout success,' Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said in the report. 'Lower prices, more content, better distribution, and lots of media hype are contributing to faster-than-expected adoption of eReader devices in 2009.'
Forrester predicts 900,000 units will sell during the holiday season.
Amazon.com Inc and its Kindle reader are expected to dominate the category with a 60 percent market share for 2009, followed by Sony Corp's Reader line with a 35 percent share.
Although new digital readers continue to enter the market, Forrester predicts device makers like Interead and iRex will account for only 5 percent of sales.
(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; editing by Carol Bishopric) Keywords: EREADER/FORECAST (gabriel.madway@thomsonreuters.com; +1 415 677 2536) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.