E-Book readers were certainly hot news in 2009. Internet giant Amazon launched both the Kindle 2.0 and the Kindle DX, causing quite a stir and gaining a lot of publicity for e-book readers in general and the Kindle in particular. Competitors like Sony and Barnes and Noble fought back with readers of their own, whilst others such as Microsoft and Apple continued to develop their own hardware for future release.

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The organisers of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) being held in Las Vegas have, for the first time ever, designated a specific area for e-book readers. This makes perfect sense, there are a minimum of two dozen different manufacturers displaying their readers at this year’s show.

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There are some who maintain that, when Amazon launched their Kindle ebook reader in November of 2007, it had minimal competition. Whilst there may be an element of truth in this, it does seem a little harsh on the Sony PRS reader, which was perfectly fine in its day. The reality is that the Kindle offered users significant added functionality which had not been available prior to its launch. Amazon’s large selection of available Kindle books and wireless connectivity with no monthly fees, were both big selling points.

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A court in Paris has found internet search giant Google to be in breach of French copyright law. La Martiniere, a French publisher, has been awarded 300,000 Euros (approximately $ 430,000) in damages and interest. Google must also pay 10,000 Euros ($ 14,000) each day until the book extracts are removed from its database. The French Publishers’ Association, La Martiniere and an author’s group initiated the action and had requested that Google be fined 15m Euros ($ 21m).

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When Amazon released the large format Kindle DX e-book reader in June of 2009, it caused quite a stir in the academic world. The original Kindle, launched in November 2007, and the upgraded Kindle 2, which debuted in February 2009, had both attracted some interest – but nothing approaching the commotion which surrounded the DX.

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The academic publishing world is, quite possibly, not the first thing that most people would think of when considering innovative technology. Nevertheless, it is this, very traditional, area which seems to be championing huge changes in the way that books are read.

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When the Amazon management team get together to review the company’s performance in 2009, they will have good reason to feel content – but not smug. It’s been a very good year for the internet retail giant – and a lot of the credit must go to the Amazon Kindle e-book reader.

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