Asus Ready to Launch an Ebook Reader? Why?

Competition is good for consumers. But, in the past 15 (or so) years, we’ve seen a number of products so completely dominate their category that second place has become also-rans. Amazon (books), Apple iTunes (music), Apple iPod (music players), Google (search), and Microsoft Windows (though Apple’s Mac OS X has been chipping away at it for the past couple of years) come to mind. Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader has the look of a category dominator too in a product area that has had fits and starts for a decade now. Sony is playing catch-up despite having had a product before the Kindle was launched. Barnes & Noble intends to produce an ebook reader early next year. And, now it looks like Asusek (Asus) is planning to launch one too?

Asustek to launch e-book reader under Eee family

Will this multi-prong attack on the Kindle make a difference? My suspicion is that the Kindle will remain at the top of the relatively small (currently) ebook reader hill for the forseeable future.

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