Who Will Buy An eReader?

Awareness and ownership of eReaders is growing, spurred by marketing campaigns from Amazon.com and Sony as well as press coverage and word-of-mouth buzz. But Forrester's newest data suggests that tomorrow's prospects for eReader purchasing bear scant resemblance to the high-earning, male tech optimists that own eReaders today. Later waves of eReader adopters are likely to be female consumers who read a lot but buy fewer of their books online than the first wave of eReader adopters do. This spells trouble for Amazon — and opportunity for consumer electronics manufacturers like Sony, mass-market retailers like Wal-Mart, and publishers like Harlequin, which could (and do) target these consumers with eBook subscription services.