The recent growth in the popularity of e-books and e-book readers has been heavily influenced by Amazon. Amazon's Kindle reader first hit the market during November of 2006 and subsequent updates followed with the launch of the Kindle 2.0 in February of 2009 and the launch of the third generation Kindle in August 2010. The summer of 2009 also saw the launch of the large format Kindle DX, which was also updated in August 2010.

A great many industry analysts suggested that, notwithstanding the influential role of Amazon in the development of the e-book reader market, the release of the Apple iPad would signal the demise of the Kindle reader. However, after the launch of the third generation Kindle - accompanied by a reduction in the retail price - Amazon has sold out of their readers again. It looks as if demand remains high for what is now Amazon's best selling product.

Many readers have warmed to e-books quite rapidly. Others seem to love physical books as much as they love reading. However, for many people the ability to carry large quantities of reading material around with them, coupled with the ease of operation offered by e-book readers, has been an attractive proposition. Recent reductions in the selling price of e-book readers, possibly brought about by the iPad’s launch, have sweetened the deal sufficiently for many readers.

Amazon recently advised that they are now selling more Kindle books than traditional hardback books. As e-books use no paper or ink and have no delivery fees, they tend to sell at lower prices, which certainly helps. It can only be a matter of time before e-books start to sell more than paperbacks.

The ease with which e-books can be bought, and subsequently delivered, is another influencing factor. Readers can download a book to their Kindle in less than sixty seconds, at any time of the day or night, just as long as they can connect to Amazon’s Kindle store.

One potential area of concern for many prospective customers was a reluctance to be "tied" to one particular brand of e-reader. Amazon seem to have overcome this rather nicely by releasing an absolute plethora of free “apps” which allows Kindle books to be read on a variety of different devices. At the moment, Kindle books can be read on the PC, the Mac, the iPhone, the iPad, the Blackberry smart phone and any device which runs the Android operating system. It's a smart strategy from Amazon's point of view. Not only does it address customer's concerns about being tied to one particular brand of hardware but every new app acts as a separate retail outlet for Amazon’s massive selection of Kindle books. Currently, approximately 20% of all Kindle book sales are destined to be read on non-Kindle hardware.

All things considered, it looks like e-books are here to stay and that they will gradually account for a higher and higher percentage of book sales. It also seems probable that Amazon will continue to be a driving influence in the world of digital publishing in future.