Electronic Paper market to hit $9.6 Billion by 2018

The introduction of the Amazon’s Kindle 2 and the Daily Edition from Sony is just the start of a massive transition to digital paper.  Environmentalist will jump for joy when we stop throwing away magazines and newspapers in the trash.  Now we can just download articles and get our news on these readers or on a iPhone.

Digital books are expected to go from 1 million sales in 2009 to about 77 million in 2018.   The market is expected to grow to about $10 billion in 2018 from about $500 million today.  The convenience of having a thin profile “book” will convince more and more people not to buy reading material again.

The greening of magazines and newspapers is having a side affect.  Major newspapers around the country is feeling the sting of reduced circulation of their newspapers.  Many newspapers publishers are only going online now and foregoing their print versions.  Call it a sign of the times, but in the not too distant future, paper may be obsolete.  I’m sure you can hear the sound of cheering in the rain forest.