Analyst: eReader sales likely to drop soon

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NEW YORK, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- Nook and Kindle sales are likely to drop soon, with tablet computers becoming more like eReaders in terms of price and battery life, a U.S. analyst says.

Tablets are already outselling eReaders, the Financial Times reported, but eReader sales are still growing.

James McQuivey of Forrester Research told the British newspaper that will change soon, with the color tablets and black-and-white eReaders both becoming cheaper.

"Prices are falling so quickly that at some point Amazon's going to give you one for free to extend its customer relationship," McQuivey said. "Tablets will become so cheap, the screens will get better, battery life will improve significantly and then eReaders will only be kept alive for sentimental reasons."

About a million eReaders were sold globally in 2008. Two years later, that had jumped to 10 million, IHS Suppli estimates.

Manufacturers sold 23 million eReaders and 67 million tablets last year.

IHS predicts eReaders will still have a market in Africa because of their long battery life.