What you won't see at CES: Ebook readers

CES coverage is everywhere you look across the world-wide web as it is the biggest consumer electronic show in the U. S. That's why you are being bombarded with coverage about Ultrabooks and tablets, the hot topics of this year's show. What you likely won't see in this year's show is the lowly ebook reader. It seems Amazon and Barnes & Noble have effectively locked up the category.

The past few years has seen small companies pushing their latest and greatest ebook readers to the CES crowd. The growth of the ebook industry has never been in doubt, and as usually happens companies want to cash in on the coin flow. Even CE giants Sony and Sharp have jumped in with their ebook readers in the past, but this year it's all strangely silent.

B&N and Amazon have driven just about everyone else out of the ebook reader sector, especially since the most recent foray into tablets. The Kindle Fire and B&N Nook Tablet are reported to be selling like hotcakes, further eroding consumer demand for the lowly ebook reader. Why get a limited reader when you can have a hot tablet for just a few bucks more?

So don't expect to see many ebook readers on the CES show floor, and if you do it will be a fluke. Most likely you won't see them later in the marketplace, at least not for long. It's pretty much game over for the rest of the ebook reader crowd.

Also see: CNET’s CES coverageand Join us for Lenovo’s CES 2012 press conference (Tuesday, 4:30 p.m. PT) | Lenovo IdeaPad Z, G, and Y series updates focus on better graphics, not much else