Sony is getting out of the e-reader business. Stiff competition for an increasingly small market triggered the decision to not release a successor to the PRS-T3 Reader which launched in September 2013. “We do not have plans to develop a successor Reader model at this time,” the Japanese firm told the BBC yesterday.
Shipments of e-readers peaked in 2011 when 23 million devices were sold. That number has steadily been dropping since as consumers replaced dedicated e-readers with apps on their smartphones and tablets. By 2017, market research Gartner expects that sales will drop to about 10 million units. The remaining market is dominated by Amazon with Kobo (now owned by Japan’s Rakuten) still looking to take it on with a growing reach across the globe. At the same time, e-books are expected to ousell printed book sales by 2018.
The move was not a surprise after Sony closed its eBook store in markets such as Canada and the U.S. earlier this year. Sony’s withdrawal is not complete though. It will continue to sell e-readers and run the Sony Reader Store in Japan but for how long remains unclear.
Sony will continue to sell the PRS-T3 until stock runs out.
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