For anyone who has even a passing interest in e-books and the e-reader market, this article on the BBC News website is definitely worth a read. It discusses some of the new e-readers on the UK market, such as the new offerings from the Barnes and Noble Nook range, which is hoping to compete with Amazon’s Kindle.

The article also looks at the idea that the e-reader war has already been won; even though plenty of people still have yet to buy and e-reader and so, in theory, could be won over by new products on the market, the winners have already been defined by the early adopters of the technology.  In particular, this would mean that Amazon has already won the competition to dominate the e-reader market with its Kindle, with Apple and Google offering it some competition in the wider tablet market.

It’s an interesting idea, particularly when consumers are faced with an increasing choice in the e-reader market; they need to make a decision based on something, but when they might not have expert knowledge into all the different devices, it can be much easier to make the decision according to which e-reader is already the most popular. There’s also the issue that Barnes and Noble is not as well known on this side of the pond as Amazon, Google or Apple.

Still, only time will tell. The number of new e-readers set to launch over the coming months suggests these companies think there is still a good market out there to compete over, which could hopefully be good news for those of us working in the independent publishing sector looking to grow our e-readership.

What do you think? Has Amazon won the e-reader battle, or do you think it’s too early to tell?