Evan Schnittman, over at the Oxford University Press (USA) blog predicts that sales of Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader sales will reach 1,000,000 units next year.
The math here is really not all that complicated. The screen manufacturer made a claim in their trade paper that sales of their screens were going to climb to 120,000 per month next year. 120 * 12 = 1,444 so a conservative estimate is 1,000,000 units, really.
What was more shocking to me was that the estimates for e-book sales are in the TEN MILLION range next year. TEN MILLION e-books. Wow.
I kinda thought these things had dropped off everyone’s radar since they were introduced and, frankly I still remain unconvinced. But one of the librarians here dropped into my office yesterday and wanted to know what I thought of using something like that packed with a selection of reference books.
Genius!
That would make a device like that into a mobile reference station. Dang. I like it.
The UWTLIT Weblog 
I have a Sony PRS-500 eBook reader. I love it. Using it for reference, however, is absolutely out of the question due to the lack of keyboard and the slow refresh rate of the screen.
I have a Kindle and it is awesome.
While the Kindle has flaws, what it does is transmit the books, (much cheaper than the paper versions) instantly to the device, at no charge for the wireless service. That’s major. Here’s why: you don’t have to pay tax or shipping for the book, nor do you wait for it for days or weeks. You have it instantly.
If you’re an avid reader like me, the Kindle will also pay for itself by the time you’ve bought your 30th book… that’s about a year for the typical heavy reader. Bestsellers for ten bucks… instantly? Hell yeah! Loving it.
The only problem is the digital Ink screen is kinda gray, not white like the screen you’re reading. A drawback, but not a deal breaker.
Despite its flaws, the Kindle really IS the iPod for Books. Its installed base will be just as large, and this really does change everything, just as Amazon hoped.