U.S. E-Book Sales are Predicted to Reach $1,000,000,000 in 2010

American e-book sales will reach almost $1 billion by the end of 2010, according to new research.

"A report published by technology and market research company Forrester presented a five year forecast for e-books in the US. The firm surveyed 4,000 people for the report and found 2010 will end with $966m worth of e-books sold to consumers. By 2015 the industry will have nearly tripled to almost 3bn, a point at which Forrester said the industry will be 'forever altered'.

The study has also found e-book buying falls very low on the list of how people acquire books, with just 7% of adults who read books and are active online reading e-books. However, Forrester said this 7% 'read the most books and spend the most money on books'.

"A blog by Forrester researcher James McQuivey said: 'We have plenty of room to grow beyond the 7% that read e-books today and, once they get the hang of it, e-book readers quickly shift a majority of their book reading to a digital form. More e-book readers reading a greater percentage of their books in digital form means our nearly $3 billion figure in 2015 will be easy to hit, even if nothing else changes in the industry.'  

"McQuivey too urged publishers to take digital seriously in order to prepare for a day when 'physical book publishing is an adjunct activity that supports the digital publishing business' " (http://www.thebookseller.com/news/133944-us-e-book-sales-to-reach-1-billion.html, accessed 11-12-2010).