In some parts of the world the-reader (especially the Amazon Kindle) is carrying all before them. Not in China. "A mass market for the e-reader has not been shaped in China. There are too many substitutes with stronger performance for the product," Simon Ye, a Shanghai-based analyst with US technology research firm Gartner, told AFP. China-made e-readers using e-ink — a display technology that creates the appearance of ordinary ink on paper by reflecting ambient light — were first launched as early as 2006. Around 700,000 e-readers were sold in the country last year, with Chinese consultancy Zero2IPO forecasting that 1.2 million units could be shifted this year. But a shortage of content is clouding the market’s growth potential, as publishers have expressed concerns about rampant piracy and are not happy with the portion of profits that device manufacturers would share with them.
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